With just two stages remaining, Andre Greipel won his third sprint in four days at the Tour Down Under on Friday.
The German sprinter for US-based HTC-Columbia has dominated the bike race that ends Sunday in Australia. He and his teammates must be planning ways to help him survive his slim 20-second overall lead to repeat his championship of 2008.
Meanwhile, Lance Armstrong, who was paid an undisclosed sum to return and race this year, made an appearance at the front of the peloton that was so unusual for this tour that it was reported by the Associated Press.
Armstrong and RadioShack teammate Tomas Vaitus took a flyer with about 2 miles left in the race and gained a 20-second margin before the peloton caught up.
Some — namely sprinter Robbie McEwen — expect Armstrong to make a play on Saturday (Friday in US time zones). McEwen is quoted in VeloNews:
“Expect fireworks on Saturday. You see how aggressive RadioShack are riding in the sprints for (Gert) Steegmans, but I expect LA to go for it on Saturday. He’s pulling the sprint, he’s at the front, he’s really active, so I think he’s just warming the legs up for Saturday.”
Maybe so. But after the attack on Friday, Armstrong told the AP:
“That was as hard as I could go. It was a good effort but maybe not the best outcome.”
He may have better luck on Saturday, when the field makes a couple of climbs over Old Willunga Hill on the 92-mile stage from Snapper Point to Willunga.
The course on Friday took the cyclists about 94 miles from Norwood to Goolwa. The breakaway du jour gained only about 3 minutes or so on the peloton. As Team Columbia helped Greipel score another victory, Australians McEwen (Katyusha) finished in 2nd and Graeme Brown (Rabobank) finished in 3rd. RadioShack was able to get Gert Steegmans up to 4th place.
Top 10 overall:
1. Andre Greipel .. HTC-Columbia
2. Robbie McEwen .. Katyusha — 20 seconds
3. Greg Henderson .. Sky — 24 seconds
4. Gert Steegmans .. RadioShack — same
5. Graeme Brown .. Rabobank — 26 seconds
6. Jurgen Roelandts .. Omega — same
7. Cadel Evans .. BMC — same
8. Andriy Grivko .. Astana — 29 seconds
9. Robbie Hunter .. Garmin — 30 seconds
10. Baden Cooke .. Saxo Bank — same
13. George Hincapie .. BMC — same
29. Lance Armstrong .. RadioShack — 47 seconds
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