Great Britain's Team Sky marked its inaugural race by taking 1st and 2nd places in the Cancer Council Helpline Classic, the precursor to Australia's Tour Down Under that starts Tuesday.
Teammates Greg Henderson and Chris Sutton took 1st and 2nd in the 31-mile criterium around Adelaide, which drew some 100,000 onlookers.
Launching the second year of his comeback, Lance Armstrong took a 20-second lead on the peloton for a couple of laps with four other ridres, including another Tour de France winner, Oscar Pereiro.
Armstrong, 38, is at the Tour Down Under, with his new team RadioShack. Many of its members came from last year's Astana team, which is Pereiro's team this year.
Sunday's criterium is a warm-up for the Tour Down Under, and the results of the classic don't impact the standings in the stage race through runs Tuesday through Sunday.
Check 2010 Tour Down Under bike race schedule and TV coverage for details on when and where to follow the six-stage race.
The winner of Sunday's criterium, Team Sky is well-bankrolled with a budget of up to $48.5 million, according to CyclingNews. It's sponsored by UK-based British Sky Broadcasting.
In addition to New Zealand's Henderson and Australia's Sutton, other members of Team Sky at Tour Down Under are Davide Vigana, Italy, Mathew Hayman, Australia, and Ben Swift, Russell Downing, and Christopher Froome, all of Great Britain.
Customarily Tweeting after his race, Armstrong wrote:
“Just finished the Cancer Council Hotline Classic. Felt pretty good-was in a break for awhile which was a good test. Tough gusty wind 2day.”
Meanwhile, the “Lance Effect” continues to draw cyclists in Australia. TreeHugger called it 5,000; Armstrong says “we'll call it 8,000 to 10,000” in this video:
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