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Chris Sutton (Team Sky) took his second podium finish in the sixth and final stage of the 2010 Tour Down Under today, but the overall belonged to HTC Columbia’s Andre Greipel, who joins Stuart O’Grady as the only multiple winners of the Santos Tour Down Under. O’Grady won the title in 1999 and 2001.

There were many small breaks during the 20 laps that made up today’s final stage, but most were reeled in quickly or never managed to generate that much of a gap. The first exception came during the 11th lap, when Thomas Rohregger (MRM), Martin Pedersen (FOT), Koos Moerenhout (RAB) and Mikael Cherel (FDJ) managed to build up a 30 second lead, but they were swallowed up on the 12th lap when Robbie McEwen (KAT) won the 2nd Jayco Sprint ahead of Robbie Hunter (GRM) and George Hincapie (BMC).

On lap 14, Wesley Sulzberger (FDJ), Trent Lowe (GRM) and Fabio Sabatini (LIQ) mounted another meaningful break which stretched out to 43 seconds by lap 16. As Sulzberger was only down 39 seconds to Greipel in the GC, he remained the virtual overall leader through lap 17, when the gap closed to 38 seconds.

At the start of the final lap, the gap was still 15 seconds, but the breakaway was swallowed up before the final straight. Rabobank and Sky took control, with Sutton winning the final sprint over his teammate Greg Henderson.

Brief Stage Results:

1. Chris Sutton (Team Sky)
2. Greg Henderson (Team Sky),
3. Graeme Brown (Rabobank),
4. Robbie McEwen (Katusha),
5. Andre Greipel (HTC Columbia)

Brief Final Results:

1. Andre Greipel (HTC Columbia)
2. Luis Leon Sanchez (Caisse d’Epargne) @ 11″
3. Greg Henderson (Team Sky) @ 15″
4. Robbie McEwen (Katusha) @ 17″
5. Luke Roberts (Milram) @17″

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