Tour Down Under 2018 – People’s Choice Classic [FULL RACE]

January 14, 2018

Tour Down Under 2018 – People’s Choice Classic – Wakefield Road, Adelaide : 50,6 km

The People’s Choice Classic, nicknamed the Down Under Classic, is a criterium around Rymill Park in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. It precedes the Tour Down Under.

Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) claimed his first win of the season with victory in the People’s Choice Classics in Adelaide. The world champion beat Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) and Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott) to win the race and get off the mark for 2018.

“”I am very happy,” said Sagan. “I was ok but after some guys came from the back they closed me a little bit but in the end it went very well. I am very happy for that and I didn’t expect I could win today.”

There was a heavy fall for Kristoffer Halvorsen (Team Sky) with the rider crashing in the sprint. He was taken to hospital for checks on his right side and suffered numerous cuts.

The 22-lap race, which totalled 50.6km in distance, saw the WorldTour teams assemble for the first time this season with the Tour Down Under proper starting in two days’ time.

It didn’t take long for the attacks to start, with Bahrain-Merida the first squad to fire a rider up the road. EF-Education First Drapac – Powered by Cannondale chased the move down but by the start of the third lap a group of three had move clear.

At the front of the , Fumiyuki Beppu (Trek Segafredo), Tom Bohli (BMC Racing) and Zakkari Dempster (Uni-S-Ausrtralia) slipped clear, and they were soon joined by Timothy Roe ((Uni-S-Ausrtralia), Jhonatan Restrepo (Katusha-Alpecin), Lachlan Morton (Dimension Data) and Manuele Boara (Bahrain-Merida). This group steadily built up a lead of around 45 seconds in the opening half of the race as Quick-Step Floors, Mitcheton Scott, Sunweb and Lotto Soudal monitored the front of the main field.

Although the break made an instant impression, their lack of cohesion soon cost them. They fought over the intermediate sprints and Restrepo’s eagerness to push on and split the group caused instant problems. With 16 laps remaining, the Katusha Alpecin rider broke the group, skipping clear with veteran Boara and BMC Racing’s Bohli, but even that level of cooperation was short-lived. Restrepo soon sat up and when Quick-Step intensified their chase with around 6 laps to go, the two remaining leaders were slowly pulled back.

On lap 18, with the race back together, the sprinters’ teams began to vie for position. This caused the briefest of lulls and Matteo Montaguti (AG2R La Mondiale) soloed off the front. The move proved to be as futile as the host broadcaster’s attempts of streaming the event live – it cut out with two laps to go – but Bora showed their dominance to draw first blood. Sagan, who came into the race calling for calm and stating that he was racing without pressure, has hit the ground running. It’s only January and the rest of the peloton have been put on notice.

Results :
1 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 1:04:25
2 Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal
3 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
4 Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
5 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
6 Chris Lawless (GBr) Team Sky
7 Sam Welsford (Aus) UniSA-Australia
8 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) LottoNL-Jumbo
9 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team
10 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data
11 Carlos Barbero Cuesta (Spa) Movistar Team
12 Mads Würtz Schmidt (Den) Katusha-Alpecin
13 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Sunweb
14 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:03
15 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
16 Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
17 Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott
18 Riccardo Minali (Ita) Astana Pro Team
19 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
20 Steele von Hoff (Aus) UniSA-Australia
21 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
22 Logan Owen (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
23 Alex Frame (NZl) Trek-Segafredo
24 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
25 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Quick-Step Floors
26 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida
27 Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
28 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Sunweb
29 Koen de Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
30 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:08
31 Rudiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
32 Anthony Roux (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
33 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
34 Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal
35 Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team
36 Nicholas Dlamini (RSA) Dimension Data
37 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data
38 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
39 Nuno Bico (Por) Movistar Team
40 Luis León Sánchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team
41 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team
42 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Soudal
43 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Groupama-FDJ
44 Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Astana Pro Team
45 Georg Preidler (Aut) Groupama-FDJ
46 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) Trek-Segafredo
47 Rui Alberto Faria da Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
48 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo
49 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
50 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
51 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
52 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
53 Chris Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
54 Daan Olivier (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
55 Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Katusha-Alpecin
56 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
57 Mickael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
58 Miles Scotson (Aus) BMC Racing Team
59 Steve Morabito (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
60 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Groupama-FDJ
61 Alex Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
62 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:24
63 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:25
64 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal
65 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
66 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:00:29
67 Jack Bauer (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
68 Tiago Machado (Por) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:31
69 Daniel Hoelgaard (Nor) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:32
70 Jacobus Venter (RSA) Dimension Data
71 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
72 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
73 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
74 Patrick Bevin (NZl) BMC Racing Team
75 Maarten Wynants (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo
76 Robert Gesink (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
77 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale
78 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
79 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:35
80 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb
81 Thomas Scully (NZl) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
82 Lars Ytting Bak (Den) Lotto Soudal
83 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Team Sky
84 Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:39
85 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo
86 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
87 Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek-Segafredo
88 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Bora-Hansgrohe
89 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
90 William Clarke (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
91 Nathan Earle (Aus) UniSA-Australia
92 Scott Bowden (Aus) UniSA-Australia
93 Jaime Castrillo (Spa) Movistar Team
94 Robert Wagner (Ger) LottoNL-Jumbo
95 Tom Leezer (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
96 Jon Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
97 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal
98 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:44
99 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
100 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
101 Simon Gerrans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
102 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team
103 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
104 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:46
105 Alex Porter (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:00:47
106 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb 0:00:55
107 Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data 0:00:59
108 George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo
109 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky 0:01:02
110 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Team Sky
111 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data 0:01:09
112 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky
113 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
114 Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) Team Sky
115 Florian Sénéchal (Fra) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:12
116 Timothy Roe (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:01:13
117 Jhonatan Restrepo (Col) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:22
118 Rubén Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
119 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:27
120 Marco Marcato (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:34
121 Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Team Sky
122 Matteo Bono (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
123 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:36
124 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team 0:01:37
125 Truls Engen Korsaeth (Nor) Astana Pro Team
126 Brendan Canty (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
127 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:42
128 Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:45
129 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:01:58
130 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data
131 Mitchell Docker (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:02:51
132 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:03:31