Santos Tour Down Under 2015 – Stage 6

By David Hunter

We head back to downtown Adelaide for our end of race, street circuit.

We have 20 laps of the 4.5km circuit, making a total of 90km. Think the People’s Classic, but a little longer. A lot has passed since the People’s Choice Classic, so looking back at it is advised.

IAM Cycling controlled the last couple of laps, before Lampre appeared on the front, but they didn’t have enough men. De Kort moved Kittel to the front of the race, before doing a monster lead-out. It left Kittel the easy task of finishing it off. JJ Lobato was 2nd with Walter Wippert 3rd.

Since then, Bonifazio “won” the bunch sprint on stage 1. JJ Lobato destroyed everyone on stage 2. The stage 4 sprint was a bit messy and narrow. It was won by Steele Von Hoff, from Impey and Wippert.

There have been good signs from Lobato, Bonifazio, Von Hoff, Impey and Wippert. On the other hand, I’ve been disappointed with Meersman, Renshaw, Haussler and Nizzolo.

I’m not sure what to make of Kittel. He made it over the climb, on stage 1, but claimed a “misunderstanding” caused the team not to work. He didn’t bother trying to make the sprint on stage4, citing team duties as the reason. All of these excuses are now gone and with only 90km to cover, Kittel has to be installed as favourite. The only problem is his track record in Australia. In 17 TDU stages, his best finish has been 6th. Not the sign of a champion! His team will not want to leave the TDU empty handed, so the pressure will be on their star to deliver.

Lobato has looked good, but he has his flaws. The main one is positioning, which he really needs to work on. The other is that Movistar aren’t really the best in terms of lead-out work. His power is impressive but it doesn’t always get him out of trouble.

Bonifazio is fast. Lampre can get over excited and hit the front too early, they need to remain patient and hit the front inside the final kilometre. The youngster has the power to be successful and he’s due a win.

Both Von Hoff and Wippert have had impressive tours. I was surprised to see Von Hoff taking a win and I don’t see him taking two. Wippert is good but not as fast as most of the others.

Will Renshaw or Meersman sprint for Etixx? Renshaw would be their best bet.

Nizzolo has been a disaster and I can’t see him suddenly getting better.

Haussler has enjoyed a nice run of form but I can’t see him winning a sprint at this level.

Impey just isn’t quick enough for this type of finish.

Prediction Time

Kittel to disappoint and Bonifazio to take a well deserved victory.

David Hunter

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