So much was made of Cavendish vs Greipel in the weeks leading up to this year's Tour Down Under, but after it became clear that Cav wasn't quite on top form his teammate Matty Goss essentially swooped in and stole the spotlight overnight. Goss dominated Sunday's Cancer Council crit and moved up from Cav's understudy to a top threat and GC contender. Goss lived up to that newfound hype Tuesday afternoon in Angaston when he outsprinted race favorite Andre Greipel and proven winner Robbie McEwen to the line for the stage and the GC lead. This was a completely ordinary bunch sprint day and a pretty accurate preview of what's in store for the next few days in this year's TDU. 5 guys tried to make an escape near the middle of the stage, but never actually had a fighting chance with such a hungry peloton. At one point they had a 4 minute advantage but that was immediately chopped down to 2 (where it stayed for quite a while until the field was ready to chase).
Breakaway members Simon Clarke and Manuel Minguez tried to make another run at it but they were no match for the locomotive peloton chugging along behind them. HTC, Garmin, and Sky did most of the catch up pacemaking until both Sky (Mick Rogers) and Garmin (Julian Dean) experienced mechanical problems and were forced to regroup. Omega Pharma Lotto took over to join HTC up front as the final 2 riders fell back into the Grupo Compacto.
HTC proved yet again that they are the best in the sprinting business and had things completely under control while they set their man Goss up for the launch. Goss made a great cut around the sweeping left and then powered his way past Greipel on the small incline leading up to the finish. In fact, he even opened a small gap. Robbie McEwen (who is usually impressive without a leadout) took a very respectable 3rd. Vacansoleil sprinter Romain Feillu took 6th, Movistar's Rojas took 9th, and Sky's Greg Henderson rounded out the top 10. Cav just didn't trust his form yet, and I think Farrar was significantly disrupted when leadout man Julian Dean had to stop for repairs. Lance had a quiet day in the peloton as he kicked off his final international pro event.
-The stage results are almost the same as those of the GC:
1. Matthew Goss
2. Andre Greipel -4
3. Robbie McEwen -6
Tomorrow morning will be certainly tempting for the breakaway but eventually the sprinter temas will take control and bring this race back to a bunchie.
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