Viviani wins WorldTour opener at Tour Down Under
Deceuninck-Quick Step starts the season with a bang in Port Adelaide
Elia Viviani, the Italian champion whose career was given a boost after moving to Deceuninck-Quick Step from Sky last year, kicked off the 2019 WorldTour with a win in Stage 1 of the Santos Tour Down Under on Tuesday. Viviani had to come from far back to beat German Max Walschied (Sunweb) by a couple of bike lengths in Port Adelaide.
The Course
The riders had 129-km of hot and hilly South Australia to ride on Tuesday, the final 3.2-km circuit scrapped because of the soaring heat and high winds. Despite the lumps it was a sprinter’s route.
?? Tour Down Under | STAGE 1
The #TourDownUnder officially gets underway today with a stage that has been shortened due to difficult weather conditions.
? North Adelaide ➡️ Port Adelaide
? Start 01:30 CET
? Finish ca. 4:40 CET
?️ 129km
☀️ 40 degrees pic.twitter.com/07SPbxiej3— BORA – hansgrohe (@BORAhansgrohe) January 14, 2019
The Breakaway
Four riders, including one from Team CCC on its debut as a WorldTour team, bolted soon after the start flag and took close to a 5:00 lead. There was something for almost everybody in the quartet, as CCC’s Patrick Bevin and Sunweb’s Michael Storer both won intermediate sprints and Jason Lea took maximum points on the sole KOM point of the day.
Endgame
With 38-km to go, all the fugitives were back in the peloton. Sprint teams controlled the field and other teams protected their GC riders.
We are close to the front and protecting @richie_porte in these last kilometers. Our goal is to get him across the ? finish safe and sound today.
Into the final 20kms now. #TourDownUnder pic.twitter.com/CswRrRZpfS— Trek-Segafredo (@TrekSegafredo) January 15, 2019
In the final few kilometres, a headwind hit the peloton. Under the red kite, Caleb Ewan’s Lotto-Soudal and Viviani’s Wolfpack were behind a bit. Walscheid went early, while Viviani squeezed past Heinrich Haussler (Germany/Bahrain-Merida) on the left hand barriers, tucked in behind Walscheid and swung right around Sunweb’s man for the victory.
Viviani had 18 wins last year, including four in the Giro d’Italia and three in the Vuelta a España. The Italian leads Walscheid by four-seconds on GC.
Canada’s Michael Woods stayed safe in the peloton, finishing 37th.
Stage 2, also shortened because of extreme weather, features a rise to the finish in Angaston.
2019 Santos Tour Down Under Stage 1
1) Elia Viviani (Italy/Deceuninck-Quick Step) 3:19:47
2) Max Walscheid (Germany/Team Sunweb) s.t.
3) Jakub Mareczko (Italy/CCC) s.t.
37) Michael Woods (Canada/EF Education First) s.t.
