The first race of the 2010 Pro-Tour road season kicked off today in Australia as André Greipel (Columbia-HTC) sprinted to victory.  It has been a long time coming to Greipel who had a horror crash at last years TDU when he ran into the back of a parked police motorcycle and required extensive surgery.

With many new teams and new rider rosters lining out it was always going to be an interesting day.  World Champion Cadel Evans was resplendent in his new BMC World Champion jersey and 7 time Tour winner Lance Armstrong was sporting the new Radioshack jersey.  Team Sky, hot from a 1-2 victory at the previous days prologue event were on form aswell controlling most of the stage a thr front along with Columbia.

A bizarre early crash after only a few hundred metres shook the peloton when a rider clipped a cats ye taking down half the pack including Evans.  Most of the favourites stayed near the front on the day however with the exception of returning champion Allan Davis of Astana.  Davis moved teams over the off season from Quick-step and must be left scratching his head as the team showed up at the race without race radios meaning that he was left unaware of a break away group that went up the road containing most of the contenders.  Davis finished 8 minutes back in 96th and is surely out of the running now.

The day belonged to the triumphant Greipel, tipped by many before hand for the title.  The German held of a charging Gert Steegmans of Radioshack in what could become a common battle over the next few days.  Evans old team, Omega Pharma-Lotto, claimed third with Jurgen Roelands and his new squad were 4th with Danilo Wyss.  Team Sky rounded out the top 5 in a great result for the new squad with Greg Henderson.

The Tour Down Under is designed as a sprinters race.  Stages are fairly flat as it is understood that none of  the big names are going to go all out at this early stage of the season.  With that in mind we expect the sprinters to continue to run away with it.  It is possible but unlikely that Armstrong may do something at some point if fo no other reason than to keep Radioshack happy.  The new sponsors are at the event so we may see the big Texan driving a lead out train at some point.

Even though he has yet to race this year our thoughts turn to Alberto Contador who is surely perspiring already about his redesigned team.  Such a rookie mistake as not having race radios may be making the 2 time Tour champ nervous following the meticulous planning that is associated with 9 time Tour winning directer Johann Bruyneel.  It’s a long way to June but it seems that already there is a lot to get right….

Stage 1 result and General Classification-

1 Andre Greipel (Ger) HTC-Columbia 3:15:30
2 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Team RadioShack
3 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
4 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
5 Greg Henderson (NZl) Team Sky
6 Baden Cooke (Aus) Team Saxo Bank
7 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank
8 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Katyusha
9 Jose Rojas (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne
10 Valeriy Dmitriyev (Kaz) Astana
11 René Mandri (Est) Ag2r-La Mondiale
12 George Hincapie (USA) BMC Racing Team
13 Robbie Hunter (RSA) Garmin-Transitions
14 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Quick Step
15 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
16 Aitor Perez Arrieta (Spa) Footon Servetto
17 Thomas Rohregger (Aut) Team Milram
18 Martin Elmiger (Swi) Ag2r-La Mondiale
19 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Ag2r-La Mondiale
20 Luke Roberts (Aus) Team Milram
21 Ivan Velasco (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
22 Arthur Vichot (Fra) Française Des Jeux
23 Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo
24 Josep Jufre Pou (Spa) Astana
25 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Team Sky
26 Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Katyusha
27 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana
28 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team UniSA-Australia
29 Gorazd Stangelj (Slo) Astana
30 Stef Clement (Ned) Rabobank
31 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo
32 Pieter Weening (Ned) Rabobank
33 Anthony Roux (Fra) Française Des Jeux
34 Jurgen Van De Walle (Bel) Quick Step
35 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Garmin-Transitions
36 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne
37 Mathieu Drujon (Fra) Caisse d’Epargne
38 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne
39 Christian Meier (Can) Garmin-Transitions
40 Frank Hoj (Den) Team Saxo Bank
41 Addy Engels (Ned) Quick Step
42 Thomas Frei (Swi) BMC Racing Team
43 Perget Mathieu (Fra) Caisse d’Epargne
44 Ivan Gutierrez (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne
45 Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Rabobank
46 Lance Armstrong (USA) Team RadioShack
47 Jose Alberto Benitez Roman (Spa) Footon Servetto
48 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Team Sky
49 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank
50 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
51 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
52 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) BMC Racing Team
53 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo
54 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Rabobank
55 Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) Katyusha
56 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Astana
57 Stuart O’grady (Aus) Team Saxo Bank
58 Markus Fothen (Ger) Team Milram
59 Wesley Sulzberger (Aus) Française Des Jeux
60 Cyril Dessel (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale
61 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale
62 Anders Lund (Den) Team Saxo Bank
63 Romain Sicard (Fra) Euskaltel - Euskadi
64 Timothy Roe (Aus) Team UniSA-Australia
65 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Française Des Jeux
66 Biel Kadri (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale
67 Peter Mcdonald (Aus) Team UniSA-Australia
68 Martin Kohler (Swi) BMC Racing Team
69 Trent Lowe (Aus) Garmin-Transitions
70 Matthew Wilson (Aus) Garmin-Transitions
71 Jesus Hernandez Blazquez (Spa) Astana
72 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) HTC-Columbia
73 Tiziano Dall’antionia (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo
74 Michael Rogers (Aus) HTC-Columbia
75 Julian Dean (NZl) Garmin-Transitions
76 Martin Pedersen (Den) Footon Servetto
77 Serguei Klimov (Rus) Katyusha
78 Matthew Lloyd (Aus) Omega Pharma-Lotto
79 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Team UniSA-Australia
80 Hayden Roulston (NZl) HTC-Columbia
81 Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Doimo
82 Daryl Impey (RSA) Team RadioShack
83 Juan Ripoll Horrach (Spa) Katyusha
84 Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) Team RadioShack
85 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) HTC-Columbia 0:00:11
86 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Team RadioShack 0:00:13
87 Sebastien Rosseler (Bel) Team RadioShack
88 Davide Vigano (Ita) Team Sky 0:00:34
89 Jack Bobridge (Aus) Garmin-Transitions 0:01:38
90 Matthew Goss (Aus) HTC-Columbia
91 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:02:58
92 Maciej Paterski (Pol) Liquigas-Doimo 0:06:22
93 Miguel Minguez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:08:22
94 Daniel Sesma (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
95 Jonas Ljungblad (Swe) Omega Pharma-Lotto
96 Allan Davis (Aus) Astana
97 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
98 Jonathan Cantwell (Aus) Team UniSA-Australia
99 Thomas Vedel Kvist (Den) Quick Step
100 David Kemp (Aus) Team UniSA-Australia
101 Manuel Cardoso (Por) Footon Servetto
102 David Gutierrez (Spa) Footon Servetto
103 Russell Downing (GBr) Team Sky
104 Bert Grabsch (Ger) HTC-Columbia
105 Robert Forster (Ger) Team Milram
106 Kristijan Koren (Slo) Liquigas-Doimo
107 Björn Schroder (Ger) Team Milram
108 Jurgen Van Goolen (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
109 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky
110 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Française Des Jeux
111 Anthony Ravard (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale
112 Simon Clarke (Aus) Team UniSA-Australia
113 Mickael Delage (Fra) Omega Pharma-Lotto
114 Mikael Cherel (Fra) Française Des Jeux
115 Pierre Cazaux (Fra) Française Des Jeux
116 Denis Galimzyanov (Rus) Katyusha
117 Alexandr Pliuschin (Mda) Katyusha
118 Michele Merlo (Ita) Footon Servetto
119 Mauro Facci (Ita) Quick Step
120 David Vitoria (Swi) Footon Servetto
121 Jose Garcia (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne
122 Wim Stroetinga (Ned) Team Milram
123 Rick Flens (Ned) Rabobank
124 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Quick Step
125 Olivier Kaisen (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
126 Gerben Lowik (Ned) Omega Pharma-Lotto
127 Thomas Leezer (Ned) Rabobank
128 Kasper Klostergaard (Den) Team Saxo Bank
129 Juan Jose Haedo (Arg) Team Saxo Bank
130 Jason McCartney (USA) Team RadioShack
131 Karsten Kroon (Ned) BMC Racing Team
132 Dominik Roels (Ger) Team Milram 0:10:43

Sprint 1 # Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Martin Kohler (Swi) BMC Racing Team 6 pts
2 Biel Kadri (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale 4
3 Timothy Roe (Aus) Team UniSA-Australia 2
Sprint 2 # Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Martin Kohler (Swi) BMC Racing Team 6 pts
2 Biel Kadri (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale 4
3 Timothy Roe (Aus) Team UniSA-Australia 2

Finish # Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Andre Greipel (Ger) HTC-Columbia 8 pts
2 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Team RadioShack 6
3 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 4

KOM - Menglers Hill Rd # Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Timothy Roe (Aus) Team UniSA-Australia 16 pts
2 Biel Kadri (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale 12
3 Martin Kohler (Swi) BMC Racing Team 8
4 Thomas Rohregger (Aut) Team Milram 6
5 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo 4

Teams # Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Ag2R La Mondiale 9:46:30
2 BMC Racing Team
3 Astana
4 Rabobank
5 Team Sky
6 Caisse d’Epargne
7 Garmin - Transitions
8 Euskaltel - Euskadi
9 Team Katusha
10 Quick Step
11 Team Saxo Bank
12 Milram
13 Liquigas-Doimo
14 Francaise des Jeux
15 Team RadioShack
16 Footon-Servetto-Fuji
17 HTC-Columbia
18 UniSA - Australia
19 Omega Pharma - Lotto 0:08:22