2012 Tour Down Under: Stage 6 / Final Results

Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) makes the final sprint look easy, taking his third stage win of the 2012 Tour Down Under. Greipel’s victory took away all chances of Alejandro Valverde gaining any bonus points, giving G.C. leader Simon Gerrans of the GreenEDGE team his second overall win at the Tour Down Under and the first stage race victory for Australia’s first Pro Tour team.

Greipel thanked his team for their efforts, telling Australia’s Channel 9: “I think the team was just amazing to do what they did there. The guys made the sprint look easy and got me to the last 200m. I always like to come back here. It’s just a nice place to start the season.”

GreenEDGE animated much of the race, making sure that they always had a rider in the break or at the front to ensure that Valverde could not gain any valuable points to move past Gerrans in the General Classification. ”Just fantastic. Can’t thank my team mates enough,” said Gerrans. “We had a tough task today to watch Alejandro Valverde but we did a great job.”

Stage 6 Brief Results:

1. Andre Greipel (GER) – Lotto Belisol
2. Mark Renshaw (AUS) – Rabobank
3. Yauheni Hutarovich (BLR) – FDJ-BigMat
4. Jose Joaquin Rojas (ESP) – Movistar

Final General Classification:

1. Simon Gerrans (AUS) – GreenEDGE Cycling