Andre Greipel and his HTC-Columbia pro cycling team fended off an attempt to unseat him from the overall lead of the Tour Down Under on Saturday in Australia.
Spaniard Luis Leon Sanchez, at left, a member of the breakaway that threatened Greipel, won Stage 5 and climbed into 2nd place overall, 11 seconds behind the German.
To repeat his 2008 Tour Down Under championship, Greipel has to survive the 20-lap, 56-mile criterium around Adelaide. There are 25 cyclists who are less than a minute behind Greipel, although they'll have to break the strangehold by Team Columbia to win the Tour.
Elite break
A four-man breakaway late in the stage from Snapper Point to Willunga was unable to break Columbia's hold on the lead Saturday (late Friday in the US time zones).
The world racing champion Cadel Evans, riding for BMC Racing on his home soil, attacked with Francaise des Jeux's Wes Sulzberger on the second and final climb up Old Willunga Hill, about 13 miles from the finish.
Evans was followed by Caisse d'Epargne's Alejandro Valverde and Peter Sagan of Liquigas, who were soon joined by Valverde's teammate, Sanchez. Those three caught Evans, and the four went over the summit lead by Valverde, then Sanchez, then Evans.
Virtual lead
As the rest of the peloton struggled up the hill, Evans had a 37-second margin over Greipel, enough to put him the in leader's ochre jersey.
But as the peloton hit the flatland, they were able to close the gap on the breakaway. As they came within sight of the breakaway, Sanchez attacked and took the victory.
Break du jour
A 7-man breakawy — Michael Matthews (UniSA), Ludovic Turpin (Ag2R La Mondiale), Eduard Vorganov (Katusha), Cameron Meyer, Matt Wilson (both Garmin-Transitions), David Gutierrez (Footon-Servetto) and Valeriy Dmitryev (Astana) — led for most of the 92-mile race, but never got much more than 2 minutes ahead of the peloton. There were caught between the 1st and 2nd climb on Old Willunga.
Overall, Lance Armstrong is in 24th place, 47 seconds behind the leader.
The final stage on Sunday can be followed in the US starting at 10 p.m. (EST) Saturday.
Check CyclingNews for all the results.
Top 5 finishers
1. Luis Leon Sanchez, Caisse d'Epargne
2. Luke Roberts, Team Milram
3. Alejandro Valverde, Caisse d'Epargne
4. Cadel Evans, BMC Racing
5. Peter Sagan, Liquigas
Top 10 Overall
1. 41 GREIPEL Andre THR 16.53'45″
2. 112 SANCHEZ Luis Leon GCE 11″ behind
3. 96 ROBERTS Luke MRM 17″
4. 71 McEWEN Robbie KAT 20″
5. 21 EVANS Cadel BMC 21″
6. 57 HENDERSON Greg SKY 24″
7. 73 VORGANOV Eduard KAT 25″
8. 35 ROELANDTS Jurgen* OTO 26″
9. 92 FOTHEN Markus MRM 16.54'12″ 27″
10. 4 GRIVKO Andriy AST 29″
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