January 19, 2014 (Adelaide, AUS) – Raging fires at Eden Valley near Angaston where the 135km Stage 1 at the Santos Tour Down Under is supposed to finish may force organizers to cancel the stage. The same fate may fall on a Santos Women’s Cup race that is also scheduled for Tuesday in the Barossa area – read more here.

German speedster Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) has sprinted home to claim the 2014 People’s Choice Classic crown ahead of countryman Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol) and Australian young gun Caleb Ewan (UniSA-Australia) as the Santos Festival of Cycling kicked off in spectacular style on the banks of the River Torrens in Adelaide.

The 25 year old, who won four stages of last year’s Tour de France, demonstrated he has brought strong form with him from Europe as he edged out Greipel to cross the line in a time of 1hr4min35sec at the end of the 50km race.

“I’m really inpressed by the boys today they did a great job, a big thank you goes to the team,” said Kittel of his Giant-Shimano team mates.

“The first sprint of the season is always complicated so it’s always a bit of a waiting game and you need a bit of luck to be in the perfect position and I was in the perfect spot to start my sprint.

“In a race of 50 kilometres everyone is fresh at the end so I had to time my sprint just perfectly.

“Always a relief to get the first win, now we can take it a little easy,” he said. “I always love starting my season in Australia.

Ninety-five thousand fans lined the new People’s Choice Classic route to see the action as 139 of the world’s top cyclists representing 23 nations contested 25 laps of the testing circuit.

In glorious summer evening conditions fans were thrilled as the peloton raced from the start/finish line in Victoria Drive the peloton sped around the scenic parkland circuit past Adelaide Zoo, across the River Torrens and along War Memorial Drive before swinging in front of the revamped Adelaide Oval, up King William Road and back onto Victoria Drive.

Australian teenager Ewan, 19, rode brilliantly in top company to get a place on the podium.

“It was a little disappointing not to win but these two guys (Kittel and Greipel) are among the best sprinters in the world,” said Ewan. “It’s great experience to be racing here against them.

“The crowds were just great and I am very excited to be here,” he said. “This week we’ll see what happens. There are a lot of GC guys (contenders for overall honours) so we’ll see how hard they make the race.

“It could be a difficult week.”

Advance Australia Fair was sung by the talented Christine Anuwhose whose powerful rendition was a fitting prelude to the racing action.

Two laps into the race four riders rode clear to vie for prizemoney in three of the four intermediate sprints contested at the end lap five, ten and 15. Australian Nathan Haas (Garmin-Sharp) claimed all three of the sprints ahead of his breakaway companions Italian Luca Wackermann (Lampre-Merida) and French pair Axel Domont (AG2R La Mondiale) and Anthony Roux (FDJ.fr).

A touch of wheels on the corner into the home straight at the end of lap six brought down about 25 riders including Italian Giovanni Viscontini (Movistar) who was taken to Adelaide Hospital with a suspected broken leg. The remainder of the crashed riders dusted themselves off and rejoined the race.

The chances of the breakaway quartet staying clear were always slim as the teams of the sprinters used the opportunity to test out their lead out trains ahead of this week’s Santos Tour Down Under, the first UCI WorldTour race of the season.

So it wasn’t a surprise when the peloton regrouped ahead of the fourth sprint at five laps to go. Team Sky led across the line with Irishman Philip Deignan claiming the prize but by then the focus was on the final sprint and setting up the sprinters

In the earlier opening race of the three stage Santos Women’s Cup it was Orica-AIS rider Loes Gunnewijk from the Netherlands who claimed the win ahead of team mates West Australian Melissa Hoskins and South Australian Annette Edmondson.

Results

1. Marcel Kittel (Ger) Giant-Shimano  1:04:34
2. Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto-Belisol
3. Caleb Ewan (Aus) UniSA
4. Christopher Sutton (Aus) Team Sky
5. Jose Joaquin Rojas (Esp) FDJ
6. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
7. Mark Renshaw (Aus) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
8. Jonathan Cantwell (Aus) Drapac
9. Elia Viviani (Ita) Cannondale
10. Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Lotto-Belisol
11. Steele von Hoff (Aus) Garmin-Sharp
12. Neil Van Der Ploeg (Aus) UniSA  0:04
13. Sébastien Turgot (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale
14. Guillaume Boivin (Can) Cannondale  
15. Marco Haller (Aut) Katusha
16. Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) FDJ
17. Anthony Giacoppo (Aus) UniSA
18. Michael Kolar (Slo) Tinkoff-Saxobank
19. Boy Van Poppel (Ned) Trek Factory  0:09
20. Nicki Sorensen (Den) Tinkoff-Saxobank
21. Jack Haig (Aus) UniSA
22. Bjorn Hurau (Ger) Europcar
23. Bram Tankink (Ned) Belkin
24. Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale
25. Cameron Wurf (Aus) Cannondale
26. Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Astana
27. Rafael Valls (Esp) Lampre-Merida
28. Aleksandr Porsev (Rus) Katusha
29. Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Astana
30. José Juan Lobato (Esp) Movistar
31. Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre-Merida
32. Julien Berard (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale
33. Michael Andersen (Den) Tinkoff-Saxobank
34. Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana  0:16
35. Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha
36. Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC  0:19
37. Maxime Bouet (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale
38. Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Katusha
39. Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto-Belisol
40. Jay McCarthy (Aus) Tinkoff-Saxobank
41. William Bonnet (Fra) FDJ
42. Koen De Kort (Ned) Giant-Shimano
43. Ivan Jose Gutierrez (Esp) Movistar  0:22
44. Matejv Mohoric (Slo) Cannondale
45. Bradley Linfield (Aus) UniSA
46. Danilo Wyss (Sui) BMC
47. Jussi Veikkanen (Fin) FDJ
48. Matthias Krizek (Aut) Cannondale
49. Rick Flens (Ned) Belkin
50. Kevin Reza (Fra) Europcar  0:26
51. Matteo Trentin (Ita) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
52. Andrew Fenn (Gbr) Omega Pharma-Quick Step  0:36
53. Alberto Bettiol (Ita) Cannondale
54. Manuele Mori (Ita) Lampre-Merida  0:43
55. Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre-Merida
56. Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Astana
57. Frank Schleck (Lux) Trek Factory Racing
58. Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek Factory Racing
59. Bernard Sulzberger (Aus) Drapac
60. Robert Gesink (Ned) Belkin
61. David Tanner (Aus) Belkin
62. Stef Clement (Ned) Belkin
63. Steve Morabito (Sui) BMC
64. Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC
65. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC
66. Imanol Erviti (Esp) Movistar
67. Nicolay Trusov (Rus) Tinkoff-Saxobank  0:48
68. Simon Clarke (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
69. Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Astana
70. Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
71. Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Astana  1:30
72. Rick Zabel (Ger) BMC  1:33
73. Amael Moinard (Fra) BMC
74. Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Astana
75. Maxim Belkov (Rus) Katusha
76. Carlos Verona (Esp) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
77. Kenny Elissonde (Fra) FDJ
78. Nathan Haas (Aus) Garmin-Sharp  1:35
79. Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Europcar
80. Jack Bauer (Nzl) Garmin-Sharp
81. Angelo Tulik (Fra) Europcar
82. Ian Stannard (Gbr) Team Sky  1:40
83. Luke Rowe (Gbr) Team Sky
84. Bernard Eisel (Aut) Team Sky
85. Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto-Belisol
86. Serge Pauwels (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
87. Thierry Hupond (Fra) Giant-Shimano
88. Nikias Arndt (Ger) Giant-Shimano
89. Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Giant-Shimano
90. Thomas Peterson (USA) Giant-Shimano
91. Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Team Sky  1:46
92. Mathew Hayman (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
93. Egor Silin (Rus) Katusha
94. Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek Factory Racing
95. Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier (Fra) FDJ  1:49
96. Arnaud Courteille (Fra) FDJ
97. Graeme Brown (Aus) Belkin
98. Jack Bobridge (Aus) Belkin
99. Axel Domont (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale
100. Mikhail Ignatyev (Rus) Katusha
101. Davide Cimolai (Ita) Lampre-Merida
102. Matteo Bono (Ita) Lampre-Merida
103. Olivier Kaisen (Bel) Lotto-Belisol
104. Javier Moreno (Esp) Movistar
105. Wesley Sulzberger (Aus) Drapac
106. William Clarke (Aus) Drapac
107. Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
108. Daryl Impey (Rsa) Orica-GreenEdge
109. Matthew Goss (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
110. Rory Sutherland (Aus) Tinkoff-Saxobank
111. Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky
112. Mark O’Brien (Aus) UniSA
113. Luke Durbridge (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
114. Luca Wackermann (Ita) Lampre-Merida
115. Darren Lapthorne (Aus) Drapac
116. Calvin Watson (Aus) Trek Factory Racing  1:55
117. Jan Bakelants (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
118. Campbell Flakemore (Aus) UniSA
119. Christpher Juul Jensen (Den) Tinkoff-Saxobank
120. Damien Gaudin (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale
121. Simon Geschke (Ger) Giant-Shimano
122. Jérome Cousin (Fra) Europcar
123. Evan Huffman (USA) Astana
124. Caleb Fairly (USA) Garmin-Sharp
125. Rohan Dennis (Aus) Garmin-Sharp
126. Robbie Hucker (Aus) Drapac
127. Jens Voigt (Ger) Trek Factory Racing
128. Stig Broeckx (Bel) Lotto-Belisol  2:04
129. Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto-Belisol  2:10
130. Ruben Plaza (Esp) Movistar
131. Anthony Roux (Fra) FDJ  2:20
132. Thomas Dekker (Ned) Garmin-Sharp  2:43
133. Lachlan Morton (Aus) Garmin-Sharp
134. George Bennett (Nzl) Cannondale
135. Maxime Daniel (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale  3:20
DNF  Danny Van Poppel (Ned) Trek Factory
DNF  Richie Porte (Aus) Team Sky
DNF  Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar
DNF  Travis Meyer (Aus) Drapac