Freire claims stage, Kohler leads overall
Source: Agencies |
January 21, 2012, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
OSCAR Freire of Spain won the fourth stage of cycling's Tour Down Under yesterday as the longest climb of the six-stage race ended Andre Greipel's hopes of a third tour victory in Adelaide, Australia.
Greipel entered the stage with an eight second lead on general classification and increased that to 11 seconds when he picked up a three-second time bonus by winning the first intermediate sprint.
But the steep climb up Mengler's Hill, 20 kilometers from the finish ended Greipel's hopes of adding to his 2008 and 2010 Tour wins.
He was left behind as 40 riders broke away on the climb and he crossed the finish line seven minutes behind Freire.
The overall lead went to Switzerland's Martin Kohler, who finished among the leading group, credited with the same time as Freier. Kohler reclaimed the tour leader's ocher jersey.
"I didn't expect to be back in the lead but we dropped Andre Greipel in the climb and then we were riding hard to make the gap bigger," Kohler said. "Tomorrow there will be 10 or 15 riders contesting the win at the top of Willunga Hill.
Greipel entered the stage with an eight second lead on general classification and increased that to 11 seconds when he picked up a three-second time bonus by winning the first intermediate sprint.
But the steep climb up Mengler's Hill, 20 kilometers from the finish ended Greipel's hopes of adding to his 2008 and 2010 Tour wins.
He was left behind as 40 riders broke away on the climb and he crossed the finish line seven minutes behind Freire.
The overall lead went to Switzerland's Martin Kohler, who finished among the leading group, credited with the same time as Freier. Kohler reclaimed the tour leader's ocher jersey.
"I didn't expect to be back in the lead but we dropped Andre Greipel in the climb and then we were riding hard to make the gap bigger," Kohler said. "Tomorrow there will be 10 or 15 riders contesting the win at the top of Willunga Hill.
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