Canadian Cyclist

 

January 18/09 10:45 am - Tour Down Under: Cancer Council Classic


Posted by Editoress on 01/18/09
 

Tour Down Under - ProTour Adelaide, South Australia

Record Crowd Welcomes Armstrong Back to Peloton
Courtesy organizer

A record crowd of 138,000 people flocked to Adelaide's Rymill Park tonight (January 18th) to welcome back to the peloton seven time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, in the Cancer Council Classic, a prelude to the 2009 Tour Down Under.

The introduction of the 37 year old Texan was greeted by a deafening roar of support with fans of all ages clamouring for a glimpse of a true legend of sport.

But the 30 lap criterium, which covered a total distance of 51 kilometres, was never going to be one in which Armstrong was expected to shine. Rather it was a race for sprinters as three time Tour de France sprint champion, Queensland's Robbie McEwen, proved with his first win for his new team Katusha.

McEwen, who had won on this course in 2004, 2005 and 2006 powered over the line to claim the win ahead of Willem Stroetinga (Milram) and Sydney's Graeme Brown (Rabobank). Lance Armstrong crossed the line in 64th place at 23 seconds but was happy to have a race under his belt.

"It was tough," said Armstrong. "I think the last time I did a criterium of this style it was in 1990.

"It was a tough criterium and I found it safer and a little easier in the back," said Armstrong who admits he is not yet at full fitness. "It's fun to get back in there (but) it will probably take a while and I need to get more power and do some more hills."

"I was a little nervous in the corners, honestly the weirdest thing was the sun - the sun was going down here (points to a corner) you had the sun really in your eyes," said Armstrong. "But after that, it was fine.

"I felt good, I've trained a lot for this comeback, I've trained a lot for this race," he said. "I'm glad the first day is over and now we can get into the race and maybe relax a little bit more.

"There was a lot of anxiety before today," admitted Armstrong. "It's not my style (of racing), but I enjoyed it.

But the tight circuit and fast pace was tailor made for McEwen.

"I love a crowd," said the 36 year old. "This was my first day out with my (new) team and I worked fairly hard during the summer and I wanted to be in good shape for this race.

" I said before, if I get one win when I'm down here this week, it will be fantastic, so we've got it ... great start to the year, and I couldn't be happier," he said. "The guys (team) did a very good job, considering it's their first race of the season.

"They haven't got any race fitness, but they came out and gave it everything," he explained. "We got together and worked out a bit of a tactic. I also just said to them, 'Listen fellas, there's no pressure. We'll do it, and if it works out, great, but if you haven't got the legs, it's the first race of the year, there's plenty to go.'

"We've got win number one so we're the happiest team, here at the moment," said McEwen who only arrived in Adelaide on Saturday night and took the opportunity early in the race to say hi to Armstrong with whom he shared the podium in 2002 and 2004 when he won the green jersey and Armstrong the yellow in the Tour de France. "He looked OK, I went and said, 'G'Day' to him somewhere in the first 10 laps of the race, and he was glad to be there. I said to him, 'welcome back' and he was cruising, just trying to stay out of trouble. He said, I'd give you a handshake, but I don't want to take my hands off the bars... first race back.

"My last big win was in Paris-Brussels in the middle of September but there's something special to win in your own country, in the biggest race of the country, in front of all these people, is a really special atmosphere.

"I love coming to this race, and when you've got all these people cheering for you, it does give you a little bit extra," said McEwen who some media pundits have said is getting to the end of his career. "It's been written, 'Getting old, this and that' ... but I've just done my thing, done my training and here I am ... first, that's all that matters."

The 133 riders will tomorrow have their final training rides before lining up in the first UCI ProTour event of the season, the Tour Down Under, which kicks off in the Adelaide suburb of Norwood on Tuesday morning.

Cancer Council Classic, 51 km
1 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Team Katusha1:04:32
2 Wim Stroetinga (Ned) Team Milram
3 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank
4 Andre Greipel (Ger) Team Columbia-High Road
5 Jose Rojas (Esp) Caisse D'Epargne
6 Allan Davis (Aus) Quick Step
7 Baden Cooke (Aus) UniSA
8 Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Liquigasall s.t.
9 Hilton Clarke (Aus) Fuji-Servetto0:01
10 Chris Sutton (Aus) Garmin-Slipstream
11 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Team Columbia-High Roadboth s.t.
12 Nicholas Roche (Irl) Ag2R La Mondiale0:02
13 Sebastien Hinault (Fra) Ag2R La Mondiale
14 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) Lampre - N.G.C
15 Rony Martias (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom
16 Inaki Isasi (Esp) Euskaltel - Euskadiall s.t.
17 Andrea Grendene (Ita) Lampre - N.G.C0:03
18 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Team Katusha0:05
19 Aliaksandr Usau (Blr) Cofidis0:06
20 Julien El Fares (Fra) Cofidis
21 Markel Irizar (Esp) Euskaltel - Euskadi
22 Mikael Cherel (Fra) Francaise Des Jeuxall s.t.
23 Alexandr Pliuschin (Mda) Ag2R La Mondiale0:07
24 Alexandre Pichot (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom
25 Jussi Veikkanen (Fin) Francaise Des Jeux
26 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Garmin-Slipstreamall s.t.
27 Martin Elmiger (Sui) Ag2R La Mondiale0:08
28 Matthew Goss (Aus) Team Saxobank
29 Timothy Gudsell (NZl) Francaise Des Jeux
30 Kasper Klostergaard (Den) Team Saxobank
31 Luca Barla (Ita) Team Milramall s.t.
32 Aaron Kemps (Aus) UniSA0:09
33 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick Step
34 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Milram
35 Greg Henderson (NZl) Team Columbia-High Road
36 Josu Agirre (Esp) Euskaltel - Euskadi
37 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Rabobankall s.t.
38 Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Liquigas0:10
39 Yoann Offredo (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux0:11
40 Pablo Urtasun (Esp) Euskaltel - Euskadis.t.
41 Frank Hoj (Den) Team Saxobank0:12
42 Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Team Katushas.t.
43 Guillaume Blot (Fra) Cofidis0:15
44 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Quick Step0:16
45 Cladio Corioni (Ita) Liquigas0:17
46 Nicki Sorensen (Den) Team Saxobanks.t.
47 Olivier Kaisen (Bel) Silence-Lotto0:18
48 Mickael Buffaz (Fra) Cofidis0:19
49 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Slipstreams.t.
50 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank0:21
51 Kurt Hovelijnck (Bel) Quick Step0:22
52 Jonas Ljungblad (Swe) Silence-Lottos.t.
53 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Caisse D'Epargne0:23
54 Thomas Rohregger (Aut) Team Milram
55 Oscar Pereiro (Esp) Caisse D'Epargne
56 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team Saxobank
57 George Hincapie (USA) Team Columbia-High Road
58 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Team Columbia-High Road
59 Michael Schar (Sui) Astana
60 Imanol Erviti (Esp) Caisse D'Epargne
61 Aliaksandr Kuchynski (Blr) Liquigas
62 Mathieu Claude (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom
63 Luis Leon Sanchez (Esp) Caisse D'Epargne
64 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana
65 Florent Brard (Fra) Cofidis
66 Jesus Hernandez (Esp) Astanaall s.t.
67 Steve Morabito (Sui) Astana0:24
68 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Astana
69 Francesco Reda (Ita) Quick Step
70 Vitaliy Buts (Ukr) Lampre - N.G.C
71 Travis Meyer (Aus) UniSA
72 Davide Malacarne (Ita) Quick Step
73 Wesley Sulzberger (Aus) Francaise Des Jeux
74 Markus Eichler (Ger) Team Milram
75 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Fuji-Servetto
76 Vincent Jerome (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom
77 Mathieu Drujon (Fra) Caisse D'Epargne
78 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxobankall s.t.
79 Anders Lund (Den) Team Saxobank0:25
80 Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom
81 Kenny De Haes (Bel) Team Katusha
82 Juan Horrach (Esp) Team Katusha
83 Jose Luis Rubiera (Esp) Astana
84 Stef Clement (Ned) Rabobank
85 Hubert Schwab (Sui) Quick Step
86 Aitor Hernandez (Esp) Euskaltel - Euskadiall s.t.
87 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Team Milram0:26
88 Rene Mandri (Est) Ag2R La Mondiale
89 Glenn D'Hollander (Bel) Silence-Lotto
90 Vladmir Efimkin (Rus) Ag2R La Mondialeall s.t.
91 Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) Team Katusha0:27
92 Sergio De Lis (Esp) Euskaltel - Euskadi
93 Sergey Klimov (Rus) Team Katusha
94 Ivan Dominquez (USA) Fuji-Servetto
95 Ermanno Capelli (Ita) Fuji-Servetto
96 Rick Flens (Ned) Rabobank
97 Simon Clarke (Aus) UniSA
98 Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz) Astanaall s.t.
99 Gianni Da Ros (Ita) Liquigas0:28
100 Andoni Lafuente (Esp) Euskaltel - Euskadi
101 Emanuele Bindi (Ita) Lampre - N.G.C
102 Javier Megias (Esp) Fuji-Servetto
103 Alexander Efimkin (Rus) Ag2R La Mondiale
104 Frederick Willems (Bel) Liquigas
105 Timmy Duggan (USA) Garmin-Slipstream
106 William Walker (Aus) Fuji-Servetto
107 Trent Lowe (Aus) Garmin-Slipstreamall s.t.
108 Martin Muller (Ger) Team Milram0:29
109 Adam Hansen (Aus) Team Columbia-High Road
110 Mario Aerts (Bel) Silence-Lotto
111 Kai Reus (Ned) Rabobank
112 Christian Meier (Can) Garmin-Slipstream
113 Jack Bobridge (Aus) UniSA
114 Volodymyr Zagorodniy (Ukr) Lampre - N.G.C
115 Pieter Jacobs (Bel) Silence-Lotto
116 David Loosli (Sui) Lampre - N.G.C
117 Jeremy Roy (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux
118 Matteo Bono (Ita) Lampre - N.G.C
119 Matthew Lloyd (Aus) Silence-Lotto
120 Scott Davis (Aus) UniSA
121 Tom Stubbe (Bel) Silence-Lotto
122 Matthew Wilson (Aus) UniSA
123 Remy Di Gregorio (Fra) Francaise Des Jeuxall s.t.
124 Matthieu Sprick (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom0:30
125 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Liquigas
126 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis
127 Laurent Lefevre (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom
128 David Moncoutie (Fra) Cofidisall s.t.
129 Pablo Lastras (Esp) Caisse D'Epargne0:31
130 Davide Vigano (Ita) Fuji-Servetto0:43
131 Julian Dean (NZl) Garmin-Slipstream0:45
DNF Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia-High Road
DNF Tom Leezer (Ned) Rabobank


 

Return to Canadian Cyclist homepage | Back to Top


 
 | 
 Privacy Policy | Contact | Subscribe to RSS Feed  | Logout
 © Copyright 1998-2024 Canadian Cyclist. All rights reserved.