Sheffield third on GC despite late crash

18 Jan 2023

Sheffield third on GC despite late crash

Related riders

Tour Down Under - Stage 1 » Tanunda › Tanunda, 149.9km

Magnus Sheffield maintained his strong general classification foothold at the Tour Down Under despite a late crash on stage one.

The first road stage of the year saw a nervous peloton and a number of crashes throughout the 150-kilometre test.
 
Sheffield was caught up in a fast pile-up on the finishing straight in Tanunda, impacting his knee. The American was able to remount and finish the stage, and now sits third overall, still eight seconds back on the race lead.
 
Ethan Hayter secured a pair of bonus seconds on the day with third place in both of the intermediate sprints. Luke Plapp was also active, taking second place in both KOM sprints up Menglers Hill. That consistency ensured he pulled on the first mountains jersey of the race. Sheffield also retained his young rider’s jersey and will be checked over by the race and team’s medical staff post-stage.
 
Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) remains the race leader following his prologue victory, now six seconds ahead of Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla). Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) claimed the bunch sprint and the stage win, with Kim Heiduk leading the Grenadiers home in 15th.
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