The first major race of the UCI Pro-Tour calendar has just ended in Adelaide, Australia and it was Quick-Step rider Allan Davis who was crowned champion at the finish. The Australian rode a canny race, claiming three stage wins in the six day race to emerge on top.  Bad crashes marred day three with two of the favourites dropping out but the Tour belonged to 11 time entrant Davis who deservedly held on to the ocher jersey with a commanding performance from him and his team.

Nicolas Roche proved that the Tour of Spain was no fluke too with a great performance to finish in 14th overall, just behind veteran George Hincapie.  The young Irishman claims he still needs to loose a few kilos ahead of a possible spot on the AG2R Tour de France team for this year but is certainly looking good at the moment.  Lets hope he hasn’t peaked to early.

Of course we can’t forget about the return of Lance Armstrong who rode his way back into competitive racing at the race.  Armstrong was wary of the speed of the peloton early on but seems to have recovered his race pace quickly and was often to be seen riding near the front of the peloton over the week culminating with some sprints up the road to join breakaways.  Whether the fear of going down in crashes or the return of his speed is to blame time will tell for the American.

General classification

1 Allan Davis (Aus) Quick Step                          19.26.59
2 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team Saxo Bank                       0.25
3 José Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne             0.30
4 Martin Elmiger (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
5 Wesley Sulzberger (Aus) Française Des Jeux                0.37
6 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia - High Road            0.38
7 Matthew Wilson (Aus) UniSA                                0.39
8 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) Lampre - N.G.C                   0.40
9 Jussi Veikkanen (Fin) Française Des Jeux
10 Mickaël Chérel (Fra) Française Des Jeux
11 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Slipstream
12 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
13 George Hincapie (USA) Team Columbia - High Road
14 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale                     0.44
15 Mathieu Perget (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne