BEFORE this year’s Tour Down Under commenced, Mark Renshaw joked that he would have loved more wins against fellow sprinter Andre Greipel over the last decade in the Adelaide cycling classic.
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In the 14 editions of the tour Renshaw had contested, he had notched up 23 top-10 stage finishes while Greipel boasted 24 from seven appearances.
On Tuesday as the 2018 edition of the tour commenced with a 145 kilometre stage from Port Adelaide to Lyndoch, Greipel added another stage win to his tally – it’s now 17 – while the Bathurst talent crossed the line in 24th.
For much for the stage the spotlight was on Renshaw’s Dimension Data team-mate Nic Dlamini, who formed part of three-man breakaway.
Dlamini, Will Clarke and Scott Bowden attacked 10km into the leg and worked together to open up a lead over the peloton.
Bowden was dropped at the Humbug Scrub Climb and while Dlamini and Clarke tried hard to stay away, they were eventually caught.
The teams were keen to give their sprinters a chance for glory and Renshaw worked to position himself at the front of the peloton.
However, in the final dash to the line it was Greipel who came up trumps, stopping the clock after three hours, 50 minutes and 21 seconds.
Still, Renshaw’s team was able to celebrate Dlamini as the king of the mountains classification leader as he was the first over the category two climb.
In stage two they will chase success once more, this time in a 148.6km leg from Unley to Stirling.