South Africa’s Daryl Impey surprised even himself yesterday, when he won the season-opening Tour Down Under on the streets of Adelaide, Australia.
Impey secured the biggest win of his career when he finished safely in the peloton behind stage winner Andre Greipel, who beat Impey’s Mitchelton-SCOTT teammate Caleb Ewan with a lunge to the finish line.
Impey went into the final stage on the same time as pre-race favorite Richie Porte, but ahead of the Tasmanian on a count back.
Photo: AFP
All he needed to do to secure the overall win was to finish safely, an outcome that appeared never to be in doubt on the 90km stage on the Adelaide street circuit.
Impey came into the race as the final lead-out rider for Ewan and was never expected to challenge for general classification.
However, his determined ride up Willunga Hill to finish second in Saturday’s penultimate stage was enough to place him level on time with Porte and ahead on a count back because of his superior finishing positions in the earlier stages.
“Coming into the race I didn’t expect to win it, but sometimes the stars line up and everything goes well,” he said. “I worked really hard in the off-season, so I’m happy to get this win.”
Impey said the final stage, 20 laps of a 4.5km street circuit, was “pretty hectic” as a number of riders battled to improve their overall finishing positions.
“I’ve been in this position before with Simon [Gerrans], trying to protect the jersey for him, but it’s definitely more nerve-wracking when you’ve got the jersey yourself,” he said.
Impey won the 2009 Tour of Turkey and the 2014 Tour of Alberta, but yesterday’s win was his first on the World Tour.
He said the win, combined with Nicholas Dlamini’s effort in taking the King of the Mountain title, was a boost for South African cycling.
“There’s a lot more to expect from South Africans,” he said. “I mean Nick Dlamini in his first race, the whole of South Africa can be proud of him.”
Yesterday took on a familiar feel as small groups of riders tried to break away and go for individual glory, but every attack was reeled in, and by lap 19, the race was all together as the teams came forward to try to put their sprinters in the best position.
On the tight circuit the race became disorganized and many of the sprinters were left on their own.
Elia Viviani went early, but he was caught by Ewan and Peter Sagan, with Ewan powering clear only to be caught by a lunging Greipel on the line, the German winning his second stage of the race and his 18th overall.
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