Tour Down Under (final stage)

Movistar Team ends complicated Tour Down Under amid injuries and abandons with Plaza in 14th spot overall. Greipel (LTB) makes it two in Adelaide as Gerrans (OGE) claims 3rd overall win

The 85km circuit race -16 laps- at the CBD in Adelaide put an end into the 2014 Tour Down Under, where the Movistar Team did not enjoy they had in previous editions. The abandonments by Giovanni Visconti and José Joaquín Rojas due to respective tibia and scaphoid fractures and Saturday’s withdrawal by Iván Gutiérrez due to illness diminished the group’s performance, still kept high by the fighting spiritu from Plaza -14th in the final overall- and Moreno, plus Juanjo Lobato’s breakaway during the Queen stage.

The telephone squad always rode together during the final stage, where a three-man breakaway by Will Clarke (DPC), Julien Bérard (ALM) and Maxim Belkov (KAT) avoided any late fight for last bonus seconds between Cadel Evans (BMC) and overall race winner Simon Gerrans (OGE). After the trio was caught, the mass sprint at Rymill Park -former finish of the opening criterium- saw André Greipel (LTB) taking his second win of the week.