The winner of this years Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under is Spanish rider Luis Sanchez who rides for Manolo Saiz’s Liberty Serguros Team. Sanchez beat out teammate Allan Davis. Sprinter Robbie McEwen won 3 stages and easily won the points classification, but missed the critical break on stage 3 when 25 riders got 30 minutes on the rest of the pack.
Sanchez is just 21 years old and like any young rider who shows promise he is always the next…, and since Sanchez is Spanish some are saying he is the next Indurain. Probably a little to ask of him, but he does show potential.
The Tour Down Under like all early season races is a mixture of guys already in good shape and looking for wins, and other guys that have goals later in the season and are using the race to get in racing shape. Many of the Australian riders have been racing a lot already like McEwen who won the national championship very recently. Then you have a rider like former Giro champ Gilberto Simoni who came in 78th place out of 86 finishers. I am sure Simoni enjoyed the chance to get some racing miles in much nicer weather then if he stayed in Europe. Also early season races give young riders (like Sanchez) a chance to make a name for themselves, get the attention of team management, and get some valuable UCI points
Many riders now go to warm weather locations to get their early season miles in. Steffan Wesemann goes to Tuscon Arizona and Jan Ullirch goes to South Africa for example.
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