Tour Down Under 2009

Three Columbia-High Road riders in the front

The 11th Tour Down Under took place from January 20th to 25th, 2009. The bike race was held in six stages over a distance of 802 kilometers. It was the first race of the UCI ProTour 2009 .

On January 18, 2009, the tour was opened with the Cancer Council Classic criterion . But it does not belong to the UCI ProTour.

Field of participants

Participating teams
ProTeams Belgium Quick Step Belgium Silence lotto Denmark Saxo Bank Germany Team Milram France ag2r La Mondiale France Bbox Bouygues Telecom France Cofidis France Française des Jeux Italy Lampre-NGC Italy Liquigas Luxembourg Astana Netherlands Rabobank Russia Katyusha Spain Caisse d'Epargne Spain Euskaltel-Euskadi Spain Fuji Servetto United States Columbia High Road United States Garmin slipstream Other teams Australia UniSA

As in 2008, all 18 ProTeams and the UniS-Australia (selection of Australia) took part.

The seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong (Astana) competed in his first professional bike race since 2005. For this, an exemption from the UCI was necessary, because according to the anti-doping rules Armstrong had reported back too late.

In addition to the Columbia riders André Greipel and Michael Rogers , three other former overall winners took part: Stuart O'Grady (1999 and 2001), Luis León Sánchez Gil (2005) and Martin Elmiger (2007).

Last year's runner-up Allan Davis (Quick Step) is the only rider who has taken part in all ten Tour Down Under events to date. In addition to last year's third José Joaquín Rojas (Caisse d'Epargne), many other sprinters were at the start, including the previous stage winners Robbie McEwen , Baden Cooke and Graeme Brown .

Stages

Stage overview

stage	Day	Start finish	km	Stage winner	Leader
1st stage	January 20th	Norwood - Mawson Lakes	140	Germany André Greipel	Germany André Greipel
2nd stage	21th January	Hahndorf - Stirling	145	Australia Allan Davis	Australia Allan Davis
3rd stage	22nd of January	Unley - Victor Harbor	136	Australia Graeme Brown
4th stage	January 23	Burnside Village - Angaston	143	Australia Allan Davis
5th stage	January 24th	Snapper Point - Willunga	148	Australia Allan Davis
6th stage	January 25th	Adelaide City Council Circuit	090	Italy Francesco Chicchi

1st stage: Norwood – Mawson Lakes

André Greipel at the team presentation

Result 1st stage
	driver	nation	team	time
1.	André Greipel	Germany	THR	3:45:27 h
2.	Bathing Cooke	Australia	UNIVERSITY	same time
3.	Stuart O'Grady	Australia	SAX	same time
4th	Robbie McEwen	Australia	CAT	same time
5.	Jacopo Guarnieri	Italy	LIQ	same time

Overall ranking after the 1st stage
	driver	nation	team	time
1.	André Greipel	Germany	THR	3:45:27 h
2.	Bathing Cooke	Australia	UNIVERSITY	+ 0:05 min
3.	Olivier Kaisen	Belgium	SIL	same time
4th	Stuart O'Grady	Australia	SAX	+ 0:07 min
5.	Andoni Lafuente	Spain	EUS	same time

After 10 kilometers, Olivier Kaisen (Silence-Lotto) and Andoni Lafuente (Euskaltel-Euskadi) formed an escape group. This led the field up to 20 kilometers from the finish. The two drivers shared the rating. Kaisen won the first intermediate sprint and Lafuente won the mountain classification.

The teams Columbia, Rabobank and Liquigas led the field in the final kilometers. André Greipel (Columbia), attracted by his teammates Mark Renshaw and Greg Henderson , beat Australians Baden Cooke and Stuart O'Grady in a mass sprint .

2nd stage: Hahndorf – Stirling

Allan Davis at the team presentation

Result 2nd stage
	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Allan Davis	Australia	QSI	3:46:25 h
2.	Graeme Brown	Australia	RAB	same time
3.	Martin Elmiger	Switzerland	ALM	+ 0:02 min
4th	Stuart O'Grady	Australia	SAX	same time
5.	George Hincapie	United States	THR	+ 0:04 min

Overall ranking after the 2nd stage
	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Allan Davis	Australia	QSI	7:31:42 h
2.	André Greipel	Germany	THR	+ 0:03 min
3.	Graeme Brown	Australia	RAB	+ 0:04 min
4th	Stuart O'Grady	Australia	SAX	+ 0:08 min
5.	Bathing Cooke	Australia	UNIVERSITY	same time

3rd stage: Unley – Victor Harbor

Graeme Brown at the team presentation

Result 3rd stage
	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Graeme Brown	Australia	RAB	3:15:35 h
2.	Allan Davis	Australia	QSI	same time
3.	Stuart O'Grady	Australia	SAX	same time
4th	George Hincapie	United States	THR	same time
5.	Luis León Sánchez Gil	Spain	GCE	same time

Overall ranking after the 3rd stage
	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Allan Davis	Australia	QSI	10:47:11 h
2.	Graeme Brown	Australia	RAB	same time
3.	Stuart O'Grady	Australia	SAX	+ 0:05 min
4th	Martin Elmiger	Switzerland	ALM	+ 0:14 min
5.	Michael Rogers	Australia	THR	+ 0:18 min

After around 13 kilometers, André Greipel was involved in a serious fall by eight riders. He was taken to a hospital with a dislocated shoulder.

4th stage: Burnside Village – Angaston

Result 4th stage
	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Allan Davis	Australia	QSI	3:29:35 h
2.	Graeme Brown	Australia	RAB	same time
3.	José Joaquín Rojas	Spain	GCE	same time
4th	Stuart O'Grady	Australia	SAX	same time
5.	Mark Renshaw	Australia	THR	same time

Overall ranking after the 4th stage
	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Allan Davis	Australia	QSI	14:16:36 h
2.	Graeme Brown	Australia	RAB	+ 0:04 min
3.	Stuart O'Grady	Australia	SAX	+ 0:15 min
4th	Martin Elmiger	Switzerland	ALM	+ 0:24 min
5.	José Joaquín Rojas	Spain	GCE	+ 0:26 min

5th stage: Snapper Point – Willunga

Result 5th stage
	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Allan Davis	Australia	QSI	3:28:33 h
2.	José Joaquín Rojas	Spain	GCE	same time
3.	Martin Elmiger	Switzerland	ALM	same time
4th	Stuart O'Grady	Australia	SAX	same time
5.	Jérémy Roy	France	FDJ	same time

Overall ranking after the 5th stage
	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Allan Davis	Australia	QSI	17:44:59 h
2.	Stuart O'Grady	Australia	SAX	+ 0:25 min
3.	José Joaquín Rojas	Spain	GCE	+ 0:30 min
4th	Martin Elmiger	Switzerland	ALM	+ 0:30 min
5.	Michael Rogers	Australia	THR	+ 0:38 min

Stage 6: Adelaide City Council Circuit

Francesco Chicchi at the team presentation

Result 6th stage
	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Francesco Chicchi	Italy	LIQ	1:42:00 h
2.	Robbie McEwen	Australia	CAT	same time
3.	Graeme Brown	Australia	RAB	same time
4th	Greg Henderson	New Zealand	THR	same time
5.	José Joaquín Rojas	Spain	GCE	same time

Overall ranking after the 6th stage
	driver	nation	team	time
1.	Allan Davis	Australia	QSI	19:26:59 h
2.	Stuart O'Grady	Australia	SAX	+ 0:25 min
3.	José Joaquín Rojas	Spain	GCE	+ 0:30 min
4th	Martin Elmiger	Switzerland	ALM	+ 0:30 min
5.	Wesley Sulzberger	Australia	FDJ	+ 0:37 min

Ratings

The point distribution was as follows for the scoring:

Intermediate sprints: 1: 3 seconds, 6 points; 2: 2 seconds, 4 points; 3: 1 seconds, 2 points
Finish sprint: 1: 10 seconds, 8 points; 2: 06 seconds, 6 points; 3: 04 seconds, 4 points

Ratings in the course of the tour

The table shows the leader in the respective classification after the respective stage.

	Overall rating	Sprint scoring	Mountain scoring	Young talent evaluation	Team evaluation
1st stage	André Greipel	Olivier Kaisen	Andoni Lafuente	Jacopo Guarnieri	Team Milram
2nd stage	Allan Davis	Olivier Kaisen	Andoni Lafuente	José Joaquín Rojas	Rabobank
3rd stage		Stuart O'Grady	Markel Irízar		Team Columbia-High Road
4th stage		Allan Davis	Andoni Lafuente		Française des Jeux
5th stage
6th stage

ProTour rating

The first three riders of each stage received 3, 2 and 1 points.

Web links

Official website (English)
Tour Down Under 2009 in the database of Radsportseiten.net

Individual evidence

↑ Armstrong makes comeback after 1275 days ( German ) radsport-news.com. January 14, 2009. Retrieved January 15, 2009.
↑ radsport-news.com of January 22, 2009: Greipel: OP and three months break

[1] Armstrong makes comeback after 1275 days ( German ) radsport-news.com. January 14, 2009. Retrieved January 15, 2009.

[2] radsport-news.com of January 22, 2009: Greipel: OP and three months break