In a day defined by frequent breakaway attempts,  Allan Davis (UniSA - Australian National Team) came out on top.

There were several attacks before the race had even gone 15 km, but after a while, Wesley Sulzberger (UniSA-Australian National Team), Mickael Delage (Francaise des Jeux) and Kjell Carlstrom (Liquigas) managed to get off and stay off the front. Their lead quickly swelled from a little over a minute at the 27 km mark to nearly 6 minutes only 10km later.

Delage claimed the day’s KOM points, with Carlstrom and Sulzberger close behind. Descending Compass Mountain at more than 85 km/h, they stayed in the same positions for both of the day’s sprints.

The break’s lead had grown to a six and a half minutes through the mountains, but the peloton began to turn up its pace and had taken a minute off of that margin by the 90 km mark. As the race progressed, the lead continued to dissolve, falling to slightly over four minutes with 20km, then to 40 seconds in the final 10km.

With just 3km to go, the breakaway was brought back into the peloton and their was, nearly immediately, a new attack was launched by Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Caisse D’Epargne), followed closely by Jerome Pineau (Bouyges Telecom), Alessandro Proni (Quick Step) and Stuart O’Grady (Team CSC). That was not meant to last, however, and the peloton reunited one last time.

Phillipe Gilbert (Francaise de Jeux) made the early jump for the wind, forcing the sprinters to go as well. Gilbert quickly saw his margin disappear as Australia’s Allan Davis (UniSA-Australian National Team) that crossed the line a clear winner. Davis topped an all-Australian podium with Mark Renshaw (Credit Agricole) taking second place from Mathew Hayman (Rabobank) in third.

Tags: Alessandro Proni, allan davis, Bouyges Telecom, Caisse d'Epargne, Credit Agricole, Francaise de Jeux, Jerome Pineau, Kjell Carlstrom, Liquigas, Luis Leon Sanchez Gil, Mark Renshaw, Mathew Hayman, Mickael Delage, Phillipe Gilbert, pro tour, Quick Step, Rabobank, Stuart O'Grady, Team CSC, tour down under 2008, UniSA, Wesley Sulzberger