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Ewan kicks off 2017 WorldTour with Tour Down Under Stage 1 win

Course shortened in overwhelming heat

January 16, 2017
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Caleb Ewan (Australia/Orica-Scott) followed up his victory in Sunday’s People’s Choice Classic by winning Tuesday’s Stage 1 of the Tour Down Under. Ewan adds the triumph to his two stage wins last season, including the opener in Lyndoch. Extreme heat and high wins caused the organizers to cut 26-km from the course.

Riders had 145-km hot kilometres on tap, with the first King of the Mountain points on offer at Humbug Scrub before three 26.5-km laps around Lyndoch, taking in Sandy Creek and Cockatoo Valley. It was a parcours begging for a bunch sprint.


Belgian Laurens de Vreese of Astana became the first rider to break away, forcing a 4:00 gap after 10-km, Orica-Scott controlling the peloton. De Vreese hung tough and became the race’s first blue polka-dot jersey.


Serial buccaneer Thomas De Gendt led a trio in pursuit but it was soon sopped up. The peloton was happy to let de Vreese cook out front. Two intermediate sprints were placed outside the Cockatoo Valley General Store.

However, the debilitating heat made race organizers shorten the course.
https://twitter.com/BMCProTeam/status/821184777197850625
De Vreese calmly took maximum points in the intermediate sprint, but the action for second and third was frantic. Dimension Data’s Australian Nathan Haas was second and Orica-Scott’s four-time champion Simon Gerrans third.

De Vreese was brought to heel with 19-km remaining. It was time for sprinters’ teams like Trek, FDJ, Movistar, Orica-Scott and Bora-Hansgrohe to start dicing. Jay McCarthy (Australia/Bora), fourth overall in last year’s race, took the second intermediate sprint, with José Gonçalves (Portugal/Katusha-Alpecin) second and Gerrans third again.

Part of De Gendt’s failed bridging move earlier, AG2R’s Jan Bakelants (Belgium) dashed away, followed by Adam Hansen (Australia/Lotto-Soudal), the riders’ union representative who had consulted with race organizers on shortening the stage.

Hansen submitted but Bakelants, Tour de France 2013 stage winner, drove on. With 5-km to go, the Belgian held a 30-second lead. The sprinters’ teams were desperate and brought the fugitive back with 2000-metres to the line.

Sunweb mobbed the front, but Sagan tore away early. But it was Ewan, the favourite to win, who hit the turbo and took the spoils. Sky’s Danny Van Poppel was second and Sam Bennett (Ireland/Bora), runner-up to Ewan on Sunday, placed third.

Lone Canadian entrant Michael Woods finished safely in the pack.

The 19th Tour Down Under continues Wednesday with a 148-km leg from Stirling to Paracombe with a short, steep finishing climb up Torrens Hill Road.

2017 Tour Down Under Stage 1
1) Caleb Ewan (Australia/Orica-Scott) 3:24:18
2) Danny Van Poppel (The Netherlands/Sky) s.t.
3) Sam Bennett (Ireland/Bora-Hansgrohe) s.t.
78) Michael Woods (Canada/Cannondale-Drapac) s.t.