Gerrans Win Tour Downunder

Caleb Ewan capped a near-perfect week for the Orica-GreenEDGE cycling team at the Tour Down Under by winning the final stage.

Team leader Simon Gerrans finished safely in the bunch at the end of the 90km Adelaide Street Race on Sunday afternoon to secure the overall title for a record fourth time. No other rider has won the Tour more than twice.

Ewan burst from five riders back in the final sprint with another withering turn of speed and won easily. The 21-year-old speedster also won the one-off Classic last Sunday and stage one of the Tour.

Gerrans took the overall lead in the Tour when he won stages two and three – the first rider in six years to take out successive stages at the event. Gerrans also won the Tour in 2006, 2012 and 2014.

The 35-year-old made no secret of his ambitions at the Tour after his season last year was ruined by a succession of crashes.

The Australian Orica-GreenEDGE team dominated the Tour, with Australian Jay McCarthy the only rider outside their lineup to hold the race lead.

Gerrans crashed near the end of stage two, which McCarthy won to hold the overall lead for one day. Gerrans immediately bounced back over the next two days and he retained his advantage at Willunga on stage five, despite Richie Porte’s storming win.

Porte’s win meant he improved from 10th to second overall, nine seconds behind Gerrans. That lead was never threatened on the last stage, given its flat terrain and the strength of the Orica-GreenEDGE team.

As always, stage six was marked by long breakaways that were never allowed to gain significant time. The race came back together with two of the 20 laps left and Orica-GreenEDGE set the finish up perfectly for Ewan and Gerrans.

Ewan won by several bike lengths, proving again he was the best sprinter in the race.

“Caleb bookending the race with the first and the last stage wins, obviously the overall,” Gerrans said. “I don’t think we could ask for a lot more. I couldn’t asked for any more of the guys [his team-mates] this week. It’s a great way to start the season.”

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Rabbitohs Confirm Burgess Comeback

Returning South Sydney star Sam Burgess will mark his NRL comeback by lining up to floor club captain Greg Inglis. The Rabbitohs confirmed Burgess’ new contract was ratified by the governing body late on Saturday night, paving the way for his anticipated return to the 13-man code.

“The Rabbitohs are pleased to inform members that Sam Burgess’ contract has been registered by the NRL this week,” the club said in a statement. “Sam will play in the red and green of the Rabbitohs until at least the end of the 2018 season.”

For the first time since agreeing to terms with the club last month, the 27-year-old joined his old teammates in a training camp at Coffs Harbour this week. However his first outing won’t be in the famed cardinal and myrtle. The 2014 Clive Churchill medallist will instead be in a World All Stars strip when they take on the Indigenous All Stars at Suncorp Stadium in February.

On the other side of the pitch will be clubmates Inglis, Alex Johnston and Chris Grevsmuhl. Burgess’s brother Tom was picked on the bench by World All Stars coach Wayne Bennett. Fellow Englishman James Graham, who is slated to start alongside Sam, welcomed his countryman back to rugby league with open arms and predicted a quick return to form.

“It’s only been 12 months out of the game, I can’t see why too much would have changed,” Graham said last week. “I caught up with him a few times back in England and am delighted to have him back in the game to be honest. The year he left we lost three of the best five players in the game at the time so to get at least one of those back is great. He’s a superstar, he puts bums on seats and makes people tune in.”

The Rabbitohs also confirmed the re-signing of promising youngster Angus Crichton until the end of 2018, as well as the recruitment of Melbourne centre Hymel Hunt on a one-year deal. South Sydney’s pre-season schedule includes games against St George Illawarra, Northern Pride and a World Club Challenge against St Helens. 

Their opening game of the 2016 season is against arch rivals Sydney Roosters on March 6.

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Nibali Wins Il Lombardia

Vincenzo Nibali won Il Lombardia in style on Sunday to claim his first Monument one-day classic victory. The Astana rider, who was thrown out of the Vuelta last month for holding on to a team car, attacked on the penultimate descent and never looked back.

Spain’s Dani Moreno (Katusha) and the Frenchman Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), who jumped away from the group of favourites on the last climb to lead the chase, finished second and third, 21 and 32 seconds back respectively after 245km from Bergamo.

“It was a fantastic day, the whole team worked very well,” said Nibali, who was sheltered by Diego Rosa in the last part of the race, one of the five Monument classics along with Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Nibali’s previous best result in the Monuments was third place on Milan-San Remo and second in Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2012.

“I tried to attack on the climb but I realised I had to do it differently,” he added.

Nibali attacked on the ascent of the Civiglio but was reined in by Pinot. He attacked again on the downhill and no rider was able to follow the Italian, one of the best descenders in the world. Pinot and Moreno were stronger than the rest of the top riders on the final climb but failed to close the gap, which increased on the last downhill.

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Nibali Disqualified from Vuelta

Vincenzo Nibali, the 2014 winner of the Tour de France, has been disqualified from the Vuelta a España after he got a tow from his Astana team car following a crash in Sunday’s second stage into Caminito del Rey.

Television footage clearly showed Nibali, who won the Vuelta in 2010, hanging on to the car as he tried to catch up with the leaders in the final 30km and organisers had no choice but to expel him.

“Basing their decision on television images clearly showing an infringement of the rules, the Vuelta race commissaires decided to take him out of the race,” organisers said in a statement.

“The film shows clearly that Nibali was clinging to the car for 200 metres,” added Bruno Valcic, the president of the race commissaires.

Astana’s director, Alexandre Shefer, who was driving the car, is also out of the race, he said. “It was a tough decision for the commissaires’ panel but after looking at the images it was clear that we had no opportunity to give any other penalty to the rider.”

The stage went better for Colombia’s Orica-GreenEdge as their rider Esteban Chaves snatched the early lead when he surged clear at the finish. Chaves pipped the Dutchman Tom Dumoulin of Giant-Alpecin to the line in the 158.7km trek by one second, with Team Sky’s Nicolas Roche a further eight seconds back in third. Chris Froome, the 2015 Tour de France winner who is going for a rare Tour-Vuelta double, was seventh, 30 seconds behind Chaves.

“We talked among ourselves and how to deal with everyone around us and the main thing to do was to attack these guys so that’s what we did,” Chaves said.

“I felt like I was in a good position and in the end I did it and I got this [red] jersey. At this point I’ve just got to keep going and be happy about this day and think about tomorrow.”

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