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Tour Down Under - Stage 3: Unley to Stirling, 129km

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Mar 18, 2009
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The Stirling stage always ends with an uphill sprint, which is perfect for Matthews (notice climbers and classics riders coming in 4th, 7th, 9th, 10th, 11th, etc), so no surprise in Matthews winning, this finish suits him perfectly.

I'm more surprised at how the hell Greipel managed 2nd in a finish like this. No surprise in Goss 3rd, though. He's good in these sprints.
 
Jul 5, 2009
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Andy99 said:
Why the sad face? He, like the majority are only there for a pre season training ride in the sun.

So true! And he's having a painful, unpleasant pre season training ride in the sun, too.

Why doesn't he just abandon rather than endure this abject waste of a pre season? He probably will before tomorrow. That way he can focus on having his team mates help HIM only, once the season actually starts!
 
issoisso said:
The Stirling stage always ends with an uphill sprint, which is perfect for Matthews (notice climbers and classics riders coming in 4th, 7th, 9th, 10th, 11th, etc), so no surprise in Matthews winning, this finish suits him perfectly.

I'm more surprised at how the hell Greipel managed 2nd in a finish like this. No surprise in Goss 3rd, though. He's good in these sprints.

I'm not too surprised by Greipel managing 2nd - remember his win in stage 2 of the Volta ao Algarve last year; the weather was cold and wet, the finish was uphill, and it was early in the season so a lot of the classics specialists were not on form. He ended up taking 4" out of Samu just in the final uphill sprint.
 
Sep 22, 2010
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Kristoffs take on todays stage

Kristoff: Ballan 11 in sprint today, uphill last couple of km... I was better than expecter getting dropped only 4 km before finish, feel my shape is getting better
 
Libertine Seguros said:
I'm not too surprised by Greipel managing 2nd - remember his win in stage 2 of the Volta ao Algarve last year; the weather was cold and wet, the finish was uphill, and it was early in the season so a lot of the classics specialists were not on form. He ended up taking 4" out of Samu just in the final uphill sprint.
Last year he couldn't even crack the top-10 on this finish. Maybe the run-in was a bit faster then, though, as Evans and Valverde had to start the sprint very early to try and catch Cardoso.
 
Feb 25, 2010
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theyoungest said:
Last year he couldn't even crack the top-10 on this finish. Maybe the run-in was a bit faster then, though, as Evans and Valverde had to start the sprint very early to try and catch Cardoso.

Yes but caisse were really hammering the field to in the run in so the sprinters would suffer and not be there anymore..
 
Mar 11, 2009
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Another day, another winner. I have to say this is much more interesting than the dominance by Greipel in 2010, impressive though that was. I wonder if he's starting to get frustrated with 2nd place yet.
 
May 20, 2010
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Jamsque said:
Another day, another winner. I have to say this is much more interesting than the dominance by Greipel in 2010, impressive though that was. I wonder if he's starting to get frustrated with 2nd place yet.

He should probably get used to it really
 
Jun 16, 2009
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Libertine Seguros said:
I'm not too surprised by Greipel managing 2nd - remember his win in stage 2 of the Volta ao Algarve last year; the weather was cold and wet, the finish was uphill, and it was early in the season so a lot of the classics specialists were not on form. He ended up taking 4" out of Samu just in the final uphill sprint.

Me either. The win at Algarve last year was a great win.

Is anyone else finding SBS's coverage of the tdu very average? Just finding they are missing parts of the race.


EDIT: btw, If Matthews didn't muck around on the finish with his silly celebration he could of got a time gap.
 
Dec 27, 2010
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by the way, I take issue with the CN caption under one of the photos from today's stage, "Matthews takes the biggest win of his career". A stage win at the Tour Down Under is not as important as being U23 world champion in my eyes, not a chance.

No offense to t'Aussies :)
 
A

Anonymous

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Just watched the highlights, got to say, i cant tell garmin and sky apart from the front on shots. Might be easier on a tv as opposed to computer monitor, but its bloody annoying.

will10 said:
link to highlights anywhere?

they arent up yet. Should be up in the next hour or so. Just doing them now.
 
issoisso said:
The Stirling stage always ends with an uphill sprint, which is perfect for Matthews (notice climbers and classics riders coming in 4th, 7th, 9th, 10th, 11th, etc), so no surprise in Matthews winning, this finish suits him perfectly.

I'm more surprised at how the hell Greipel managed 2nd in a finish like this. No surprise in Goss 3rd, though. He's good in these sprints.
Don't you remember Greipel winning a 7%+ uphill sprint in Algarve a few years back?

Greipel is good in this type of sprints too.
 
Jun 16, 2009
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Yes greipel is good on hard finishes but the pace was not as hard as last year. Especially as we had Evans, Valverde, Rogers and cardoso featuring in the sprint who are better climbers than the guys who featured today.
 

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