5 months ago 25th Jan 16:36
Greipel's prizes for the win included a Yellow Jersey cow named Fleurieu Freckle which regrettably he will have to leave behind.
"I think it is not possible for me to go back to Germany with a cow in my suitcase," he said.
While Greipel was celebrating Rabobank's Matt Hayman was sitting in the middle of the road stunned after crashing 300 metres from the finish. The Canberra rider had been leading his team mate Graeme Brown up for the sprint and had just eased off to let Brown by when Italian rider Elia Rigotto (Milram) flew down his left hand side and caused the crash. Race officials, after viewing the replay of the incident, fined Rigotto 200 Swiss francs and disqualified him from the Tour for what Chief Commissaire, Michael Robb, described as a 'viscious headbut'.
Hayman was transported to hospital where he underwent surgery on his fractured left collar bone. Surgeons inserted a plate and screws in order to speed his recovery and he is expected to be back on his bike within a week.
With 87 riders still within 24 seconds of the race lead tomorrow's fifth stage, that begins and ends in Willunga, could prove decisive. The race heads to the McClaren Vale wine growing region and involves three laps out to Aldinga Bay before the race heads up Old Willunga Hill for the king of the mountain sprint just 20 kilometres from the finish line. "It's going to be hard tomorrow and I’m not looking forward to it," said Renshaw. "But I’m going to take it by the horns and I think if I can stay within a minute over the top my teammates should be able to drag me back up.
"We’re just going to have to bank on that but we have a double-spear (two-pronged) attack with Simon (Gerrans - 2006 Tour Down Under winner) and myself, so we’ll be looking to either put Simon in the break or have me defend the jersey," explained Renshaw of the team's tactics for the penultimate stage.
Earlier in Stage 4 Adelaide's Stuart O'Grady (CSC) and Credit Agricole rider Christophe Le Mevel were involved in a low speed crash at Mt Pleasant but both recovered to rejoin the race and O'Grady showed no ill effects joining the sprint for the line to place eighth on the stage.
At the day's 'South Australia - A Brilliant Blend' king of the mountain sprint 19 kilometres after the start it was Saunier Duval's Arkaitz Duran (ESP) who claimed the points ahead of Mathieu Perget (FRA - Caisse d'Epargne) and Denmark's Nicki Sorensen but current climber's category leader Philippe Gilbert (Francaise des Jeux) made sure he picked up some more points for his tally by crossing in fifth place at the summit.
There were two SA Lotteries sprints contested today. The first at the 47.9km mark in Mt Torrens saw Australian Allan Davis (Australia-UniSA) collect the three seconds bonus ahead of Caisse d'Epargne rider Luis Sanchez and Gilbert. The time bonus made Davis the virtual leader on the road but at the next sprint at Woodside (60.2km) the man wearing the ochre leader's jersey, Renshaw, claimed second place and a two second bonus to snatch back the lead.
German Jan Fortser (Gerolsteiner) won the second intermediate sprint with Euskatel Euskadi rider Mikel Astarloza third across the line.
In the wake of the intermediate sprints the race settled down until, with 50 kilometres remaining, Javier Aramendia (Euskatel-Euskadi) time trialled off the front solo and managed to gain a lead of almost four minutes. But the audcacious gamble of the young Spaniard didn't pay off and six kilometres from home he was swamped as the sprinter's teams steamrolled into town. Tomorrow Renshaw will again wear ochre as the race leader and holds the lead in the 'SA Lotteries Sprint' classification, Gilbert will wear the 'South Australia - A Brilliant Blend' jersey as leader of the king of the mountain classification, Jose Rojas (Caisse d'Epargne) is still on top of the 'Share the Road Best Young Rider' standings and for his effort today Aramendia was named the 'Hindmarsh Most Aggressive Rider' for the stage.
The Bartercard Teams Classification has CSC on top but all 19 teams are currently on the same time.
Crowd estimate for Stage Four - 68,000 For more information, race routes and results visit the official website at www.tourdownunder.com.au
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