Haas holds on to overall lead, takes big stage race win
Kittel capped a near-perfect year, especially considering that he is a neo-pro. His 17 season wins are only one short of that of Philippe Gilbert. Even when considering that Gilbert took more high-profile races, Kittel’s balance is positive. “To win two stages at the end of the year is very nice but I thank my team for that,” Kittel said.
He has been gracious all season long for any chance when Skil-Shimano believed in him. “I think I always had a good race program with good breaks. The year was perfect for me and it will be difficult to repeat it in the future.”
The Dutch squad kept Kittel out of trouble in the final stage. “Today, our tactic was to keep the bunch together and mostly that happened. The boys worked amazingly hard. The course today was not easy.”
Kittel started his winning season in Langkawi, conquered mainland Europe and now finished it off in Australia. “The Herald Sun Tour was a really nice adventure for me and I have had a lot of fun here. I really like Australia and for me it was a very nice finish to the season,” Kittel said.
Haas had some expectations going into the race, aiming for a top five overall and the white jersey in the U23 competition. In addition to white he walked away with yellow (overall winner), green (best sprinter) and blue (best team). “It was a dream, I never dreamt of,” Haas said. “I even went to bed last night trying to convince myself that there was nothing on today. I never thought I would be in this position – it’s a really beautiful feeling.”
The race was not held last year and Bobridge had the honor of wearing number one. On the final day he still had a chance to overall victory, sitting ten seconds behind Haas. Bonus seconds in the intermediate sprints and the finish could have toppled Haas, but he was ready. “I didn’t have time to think about emotions along the way. I just tried to stay as cool as possible.”
The others weren’t just sitting back, but Haas showed his worth. “We did everything we could to put him under pressure, but he just put pressure back on us,” Bobridge said.
In the fast and furious final there was also a split in the peloton. Haas was sitting in the top 20 and reached the finish in the same time as Kittel. Bobridge was caught in the second group and dropped another seven seconds.
There was still a battle for third place overall. Debusschere and Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (MTN Qhubeka) challenged Jonas Jorgensen (SaxoBank Sungard) throughout the stage.
All three picked up time bonuses along the way, most notably Janse Van Rensburg who won both of the intermediate sprints. In the end the South African lacked one single second to get onto the podium. Van Rensburg was at least compensated for being named the Tour’s most aggressive rider and received an orange jersey for that.