Bobridge sets up classic Cooke finish
Young
South Australian rider Jack Bobridge took a valiant lead in the last 25
km of stage one of the Tour Down Under in blistering conditions -
setting up a second place dash for Team UniSA-Australia's sprint master,
Baden Cooke.
Bobridge rode out from the peloton for about 15km setting up an ideal finish for Cooke, in what was always going to be a battle of the sprinters.
With 5km to go, the pack caught Bobridge and Cooke showed just how strong he is at the sprint, holding out Robbie McEwen to finish a close second behind last year's overall TDU winner, Andre Greipel.
Cooke's parents were at the finish line to congratulate him on his efforts - here for Tour week from Cooke's hometown of Benalla, Victoria.
Team Manager, Dave Sanders said he was proud of youngster Bobridge's courageous surge.
"Bobridge's break-away about 25 kilometres out, gave the rest of the team a free ride to the finish and Cookie finished it up with the sprint for second place," Sanders said.
"Today's ride was a good start to the week and was a great effort by the team.
"It's great for the boys to be up there with the big teams."
Typically calm before the race, Sanders again underlined that Bobridge and Meyers were two of the best young riders around.
"Even though you don't win these things in one day, we have a team of superstars," he said.
And despite the super hot conditions, with temperatures of about 39C at the Mawson Lakes stage finish, young Bobridge was all enthusiasm.
"I was happy with the day's race and the breakaway," he said. "It was great to have a chance to take the pressure off the other guys."
Crossing the northern end of the Adelaide Hills this Norwood to Mawson Lakes stage was never going to phase the all Australian team who are used to riding in the heat. They were well prepared, going through double the drinks they normally consume during a similar day's ride as the temperatures passed the old century mark.
Today's race saw two main break-away riders - Oliver Kaisen from Silence-Lotto and Andoni Lafuente from Euskaltel-Euskadi – holding almost six minutes on the peloton before the first sprint. With these two ahead, another split quickly formed as UniSA's Jack Bobridge and Australia's Robbie McEwen (Team Katusha) pulled away. But with 2 km from the first sprint, the four were quickly pulled back.
Today's race included two King of the Mountain rides.