2009 Tour Down Under Stage 1 Race Highlights

Host: This is not ordinary in South Australia about a 15-minute drive
from the center of Adelaide, the scene of the opening day of a six-
day race, the Tour Down Under now in it's 11th year. Most of the
opening of the 2009 international cycling season, the crowds over
here in anticipation they are waiting to see one Lance Armstrong.

Male: You know it's good to get started. Again, you have what I think is
going to be fast racing even if there’s moments where you can chill
out and talk to your buddies a little bit. There’s still the finish.
There still what we all suspect to be a group’s friend. So same
things apply, you got to stay out of trouble. Stay out of the way and
make it more peace.

Host: The big man on his comeback here and looking as fit as he did
when he won the 2005 Tour de France, the seventh in a row. So
three kilometers into the race, the first to tackle the day Olivier
Kaisen from the Silence Lotto team at 25 years of age quickly
joined by the Euskaltel-Euskadi rifer from northern Spain in
Adoni Lafuente. And the two of them getting together and building
quite a big lead as the race got under way. The next big challenge
of the day would be Gold Creek, a little climb coming at 39
kilometers in. By the time they started the climb up here it will be
the climber on the jewel upfront, Lafuente taking the king of the
Mountains Points ahead of his breakaway companion Kaisen.

The main field was now just over seven minutes behind. Will
Walker was dangling off the front of the main field but would soon
be swept off. Once on to the next climb of the day at 61 kilometers
check the hill, the two lies up front we’re seeing the biggest crowd
we see on this race in many, many years and the gap was coming
down too. It was now just four and a half minutes. It had
reasonably favorable winds up until now but soon they will be
heading up towards Williams Town, Angola and then the wind
would change direction.

The pellets on themselves though Val mixing out the big action
here as they raced up towards the finish here at 300 kilometers,
300 meters to go. It looked like it was going to be a win by Robin
McQueen who broke to the left of our picture. Unseeing to our eye
though, he clipped the camera in the crowd and his arm began to
swell up rather alarmingly. You see they're looking at it as Andre
Griffel gets the win and with it the Oakwood, Jersey of race leader.

Team Columbia-High Road had done what they said they would
do and that was to take out the first stage. Congratulations, all
around Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister of Australia in the center
there and Mike Rann, the premiere of South Australia presenting
theOakwood Jersey to Andre Griffel, the first leader of the Tour
Down Under and is only five days still to race.