Sanchez wins stage five as Greipel clings on

luis leon sanchez, ll sanchez, sanchez, tour down under tdu, stage 5, cadel evans, lance armstrong

Luis Leon Sanchez won stage five of the Tour Down Under in Willunga today as Andre Greipel's lead came under serious threat for the first time in this race.

Sanchez escaped on the second accent of Willunga hill as he and team mate Alejandro Valverde went off in pursuit of world champion Cadel Evans who was on brilliant form.

The Australian, not known for his attacking riding, set the race alight as he rode clear of the bunch that split under the pressure. By the top of the climb, Sanchez, Valverde and Peter Sagan had bridged the gap and the group started to build up a lead that grew to 33 seconds.

With time bonuses of 10, six and four seconds on the line, Cadel Evans became the virtual leader on the road. But with Sanchez being the better sprinter, the Spaniard was in the running to take the lead if he could win the stage and take the bonus seconds ahead of Evans.

Suddenly the race was alive.

The move put race leader Greipel under serious pressure. The German was down to just three team mates and may have lost the race had Katusha and Jens Voigt (Saxo Bank) not assisted in the chase.

The closing kilometres played out a nail-biting chase as the small group of 40 or so riders slowly brought back the leading group of four riders.

But HTC Columbia could not quite close the gap, instead bringing it to within just a handful of seconds, and were obviously unable to maintain their speed all the way to the line as Luke Roberts (Milram) seized his chance and jumped clear in the final kilometre with his team mate Markus Fothen.

The pair caught all but Sanchez, and although the move went unnoticed at the time it moved Roberts up to third place overall behind Greipel and Sanchez.

Evans moved up to fifth on general classification as Robbie McEwen dropped to fourth and Team Sky's Greg Henderson - who won the small bunch sprint - dropped to sixth. The big loosers of the day were Gert Steegmans and Greame Brown who both lost over two minutes and dropped out of the top 30.

luis leon sanchez, ll sanchez, sanchez, tour down under tdu, stage 5, cadel evans, lance armstrong

Luis Leon Sanchez takes stage 5 at the Tour Down Under and moves up to second overall

luis leon sanchez, ll sanchez, sanchez, tour down under tdu, stage 5, cadel evans, lance armstrong

Curse? What curse? A galvanised Cadel Evans goes on the attack, much to the delight of the Australian fans.

 

luis leon sanchez, ll sanchez, sanchez, tour down under tdu, stage 5, cadel evans, lance armstrong

Alejandro Valverde drags Sanchez and Sagan clear of the bunch on Willunga hill

Tour Down Under stage 5: Snapper Point - Willunga, 148km

1. Luis Leon Sanchez (Esp) Caisse d'Epargne 3-29.39hrs

2. Luke Roberts (Aus) Milram 2 secs

3. Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Caisse d'Epargne 4 secs

4. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC at same time

5. Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas at 6 secs

6. Markus Fothen (Ger) Milram

7. Sebastien Rosseler (Bel) RadioShack

8. Cameron Meyer (Aus) Garmin-Transitions

9. Greg Henderson (NZl) Team Sky at 9 secs

10. Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Liquigas at same time

General Classification

1. André Greipel (Ger) HTC Columbia 16-53.45 hrs

2. Luis Leon Sanchez (Esp) Caisse d'Epargne 11 secs

3. Luke Roberts (Aus) Milram 17 secs

4. Robbie McEwen (Aus) Katusha 20 secs

5. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC 21 secs

6. Greg Henderson (NZl) Team Sky 24 secs

7. Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Katusha 25 secs

8. Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Omega Pharma Lotto 26 secs

9. Markus Fothen (Ger) Milram 27 secs

10. Andriy Grivko (UKR) Astana 29 secs

Tour Down Under 2010: Race reports

Tour Down Under, stage four: Greipel takes his hat-trick

Tour Down Under, stage three: Cardoso takes win ahead of Valverde

Tour Down Under, stage two: Greipel takes win number two

Tour Down Under, stage one: Greipel takes back sprint crown Cancer Council Helpline Classic: Team Sky off to perfect start as Henderson wins



Tour Down Under 2010: Related links



Armstrong surprises field with late attack on TDU stage four

Team Sky miss out on stage four

Armstrong finding it tough at the Tour Down Under

Downing adapts to embrace new challenge

Hayman admits to nerves before Sky's debut

Tour Down Under news round-up (Jan 16)

Armstrong leads thousands on Twitter ride in Adelaide

Team Sky ready for first race

Armstrong warms up Down Under

Armstrong in Australia: "I'm in better shape than last year"

Team Sky gets ready for Tour Down Under

Tour Down Under 2010: Start list

Lance Armstrong to ride 2010 Tour Down Under

Cadel Evans and BMC to ride Tour Down Under

Tour Down Under teams confirm rosters

Davis wins 2009 Tour Down Under

Tour Down Under 2010: Photo galleries

TDU stage four photo gallery by Graham Watson

TDU stage three photo gallery by Graham Watson

TDU stage two photo gallery by Graham Watson

TDU stage one photo gallery by Graham Watson

Cancer Council Helpline Classic

Armstrong in Adelaide



External link




Tour Down Under official website

 

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Simon Richardson
Magazine editor

Editor of Cycling Weekly magazine, Simon has been working at the title since 2001. He fell in love with cycling 1989 when watching the Tour de France on Channel 4, started racing in 1995 and in 2000 he spent one season racing in Belgium. During his time at CW (and Cycle Sport magazine) he has written product reviews, fitness features, pro interviews, race coverage and news. He has covered the Tour de France more times than he can remember along with two Olympic Games and many other international and UK domestic races. He became the 130-year-old magazine's 13th editor in 2015.