German speedster Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) has sprinted home to claim the 2014 People’s Choice Classic crown ahead of countryman Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol) and Australian young gun Caleb Ewan (UniSA-Australia) as the Santos Festival of Cycling kicked off in spectacular style on the banks of the River Torrens in Adelaide.
The 25-year-old, who won four stages of last year’s Tour de France, demonstrated he has brought strong form with him from Europe as he edged out Greipel to cross the line in a time of 1hr4min35sec at the end of the 50km race.
“I’m really impressed by the boys today they did a great job, a big thank you goes to the team,” said Kittel of his Giant-Shimano team mates.
“The first sprint of the season is always complicated so it’s always a bit of a waiting game and you need a bit of luck to be in the perfect position and I was in the perfect spot to start my sprint.
“In a race of 50 kilometres everyone is fresh at the end so I had to time my sprint just perfectly.
“Always a relief to get the first win, now we can take it a little easy,” he said. “I always love starting my season in Australia.
Ninety-five thousand fans lined the new People’s Choice Classic route to see the action as 139 of the world’s top cyclists representing 23 nations contested 25 laps of the testing circuit.
In glorious summer evening conditions fans were thrilled as the peloton raced from the start/finish line in Victoria Drive the peloton sped around the scenic parkland circuit past Adelaide Zoo, across the River Torrens and along War Memorial Drive before swinging in front of the revamped Adelaide Oval, up King William Road and back onto Victoria Drive.
Australian teenager Ewan, 19, rode brilliantly in top company to get a place on the podium.
“It was a little disappointing not to win but these two guys (Kittel and Greipel) are among the best sprinters in the world,” said Ewan.
“It’s great experience to be racing here against them.
“The crowds were just great and I am very excited to be here,” he said. “This week we’ll see what happens. There are a lot of GC guys (contenders for overall honours) so we’ll see how hard they make the race.
“It could be a difficult week.”
Advance Australia Fair was sung by the talented Christine Anu whose whose powerful rendition was a fitting prelude to the racing action.
Two laps into the race four riders rode clear to vie for prize money in three of the four intermediate sprints contested at the end lap five, ten and 15. Australian Nathan Haas (Garmin-Sharp) claimed all three of the sprints ahead of his breakaway companions Italian Luca Wackermann (Lampre-Merida) and French pair Axel Domont (AG2R La Mondiale) and Anthony Roux (FDJ.fr).
A touch of wheels on the corner into the home straight at the end of lap six brought down about 25 riders including Italian Giovanni Visconti (Movistar) who was taken to Royal Adelaide Hospital with a suspected broken leg. The remainder of the crashed riders dusted themselves off and rejoined the race.
The chances of the breakaway quartet staying clear were always slim as the teams of the sprinters used the opportunity to test out their lead out trains ahead of this week’s Santos Tour Down Under, the first UCI WorldTour race of the season.
So it wasn’t a surprise when the peloton regrouped ahead of the fourth sprint at five laps to go. Team Sky led across the line with Irishman Philip Deignan claiming the prize but by then the focus was on the final sprint and setting up the sprinters
In the earlier opening race of the three stage Santos Women’s Cup it was Orica-AIS rider Loes Gunnewijk from the Netherlands who claimed the win ahead of team mates West Australian Melissa Hoskins and South Australian Annette Edmondson.
Ron Callahan is the chief cook and bottlewasher at Bike World News, doing everything from website design to bike reviews.