Cycling: Sam Bennett (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) has won the first WorldTour race of the season. At the start of the Tour Down Under, the Irishman was able to prevail in the expected mass sprint ahead of Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates) and Jan Baska (Bora - hansgrohe). The 29-year-old celebrated his first success in his new team's jersey in the first official UCI race.
Daryl Impey is fighting for every second
At 11:00 AM local time in Tanunda, which is 01:30 AM CET, the professionals set off on the Tour Down Under for the first WorldTour race of the 2020 season. The race in South Australia covered 15,0 kilometers, with spectators along the route getting five glimpses of their heroes on the 150,0-kilometer circuit. However, a breakaway group failed to form initially. The first intermediate sprint of the day came after just 30,0 kilometers in Angaston – meaning valuable seconds were up for grabs right from the start. Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott), winner of the last two editions, secured three of those seconds, ahead of Chris Lawless (Ineos) and Nathan Haas (Cofidis).
Ziptrak Sprint #1 and the points go to @DarylImpey from @Mitchellton -SCOTT 🇿🇦 #tourdownunder #sprint #sprintpoints pic.twitter.com/TK10XsO0jv
— Santos Tour Down Under 🚴🚴♀️ (@tourdownunder) January 21, 2020
Jarrad Drizners conquers the mountain jersey
After the first intermediate sprint, four riders broke away from the peloton. Australians Jarrad Drizners (UniSA), Dylan Sunderland (NTT), and Michael Storer (Sunweb), along with American Joey Rosskopf (CCC), would henceforth contest the intermediate classifications amongst themselves. Of this quartet, Drizners had the most reason to celebrate at the end of the day. With a first and a second place in the two mountain classifications on Breakneck Hill, Drizners seized the lead in the intermediate sprint. However, the established teams weren't about to give the breakaway any more of a chance. Led by Deceuninck-Quick-Step, Jumbo-Visma, Cofidis, Lotto-Soudal, and Israel Start-Up Nation, the peloton steadily closed the gap. Well before the finish line, the peloton would come together, and the expected mass sprint was inevitable.
André Greipel is back with rank #5
Due to the numerous sprinters in the peloton, many teams aimed to control the final section. However, the final kilometer was once again destined to belong to Deceuninck-Quick-Step. Perfectly prepared by Danish champion Michael Mørkøv, Irish champion Sam Bennett simply had to finish the sprint. Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates) made life particularly difficult for him, however . The 21-year-old Belgian was only beaten in the final meters. The podium was surprisingly completed by Slovakian Jan Báska (Bora-Hansgrohe), ahead of Italian Elia Viviani (Cofidis) and German André Greipel (Israel Start-Up Nation). Local favorite – and winner of yesterday's criterium – Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) had a somewhat disappointing seventh-place finish. Ahead of him was Norwegian Kristoffer Halvorsen (EF), whose EF team also put on a very strong performance and was hard to miss, not least because of their bright jersey colors.
🥇Big sprint finish and the win to Sam Bennett from Deceuninck – Quickstep in Ziptrak Stage 1 in Tanunda 🥇 #tourdownunder #winner #tanunda pic.twitter.com/OS85NvguUA
— Santos Tour Down Under 🚴🚴♀️ (@tourdownunder) January 21, 2020