TDU Stage 3 video: Greipel, the wizard of Oz

VICTOR HARBOR, Australia (VN) – It seems that when in Oz, André Greipel can do no wrong.

Down two men, the hulk of a man nevertheless stormed into Victor Harbor Thursday to capture the third stage of the Tour Down Under, and with 10 seconds’ time bonuses, the race lead to boot.

The Lotto-Belisol rider, who won both the Down Under Classic the previous Sunday and two days later, the opening stage to Clare, was simply too fast for FDJ-BigMat’s Yauheni Hutarovich, who lost by half a wheel, and his Norwegian nemesis, Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky), who finished third.

“We’re nearly three riders down but the rest of the team that is not injured was awesome today,” said Greipel.

The stage win put the German back into the ochre leader’s jersey with an eight-second buffer from Swiss rider Martin Kohler (BMC Racing). Australian Michael Matthews (Rabobank) finished with the bunch and remains in third place overall, 12 seconds behind.

“I’m happy to get back into the lead but the time bonus isn’t important, in my mind,” Greipel said, who has twice won overall honors (in 2008 and 2010), but concedes he is unlikely to win a third.

“The Willunga stage (Saturday) is too hard for me to win GC this year. With two stage wins, we’ve already reached our goal. We can’t have everything and we just take it day by day.”

In the first five kilometers, a group of three broke away made up of Eduard Vorganov (Katusha) and Belgians Jan Bakelants (RadioShack-Nissan-Trek) and Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM). They were soon joined by Ireland’s Matthew Brammeier (Omega Pharma-Quickstep).

The break stretched to a maximum lead of around five minutes but the peloton, after failing to catch Clarke yesterday, judged the chase to perfection.

After the sprint at Goolwa, Brammeier tried a solo attack off the front as the peloton reeled in his fellow escapees. He held on for a few more kilometers, but alas for the Irishman, it wasn’t to be his day, and 10km from home, the pace was frenetic as the sprinters jostled for position.

“The one kilometer to go mark was the most important point of today’s stage,” said Greipel.

“I told my teammates, ‘I need to be in fifth or sixth position.’ They did a great job to put me there and I finished it off.”

De Gendt’s efforts along the road moved him up to fourth overall, 14 seconds off Greipel’s lead. “The legs are not so good but I will try to attack. I think tomorrow is best for me just to stay in the peloton and then Old Willunga Hill is going to be so hard, but I am going to try and be in the front.”

Meanwhile, Matthews still leads the best young rider classification but was disappointed with his efforts, as he and Mark Renshaw reversed roles due to the former’s position on the overall standings.

“The boys had a really good lead-out for me and I just couldn’t hold the wheel in the last couple of kilometers,” he said. “It just got a bit messy and Mark Renshaw held the lead-out but I just wasn’t there to finish it (off).”

Thursday’s fourth stage travels 130km from Norwood in Adelaide’s eastern suburbs to Tanunda in the Barossa wine region.

FILED UNDER: News / Road TAGS: Andre Greipel / Tour Down Under