Stephens on an earlier stage

The 2000 Tour Down Under drew to a thrilling close in Adelaide this afternoon, with Matt Stephens not loosening his grip on 8th place at the first race of the year. The team also racked up their 4th and 5th top ten places of a great week's racing with David McKenzie and Tayeb Braikia mixing it in the finishing straight.

Queensland's Robbie McEwen of the Dutch Farm Frites squad repeated his final day win in the 1999 Tour de France to delight the massive weekend crowd lining the route. The final stage of this race took in 20 laps of a 4.8km circuit that crossed and recrossed the River Torrens in the prettiest part of this lovely city. Live TV across Australia and 100,000 spectators on the barriers gave the race a terrific atmosphere, and the Linda McCartney team were in the heat of the battle once again.

Pascal Richard drove the chase group that went after the break of the day. Four riders had gone clear as early as the 2nd lap, and they held off both Pascal's group and then the bunch until they were within 350 sickening metres from the finish line. Then they were swept up in the mad dash that saw Robbie McEwen beat everybody to the line, with McKenzie and Braikia close to him in 6th and 8th respectively.

Within the last kilometre, with the break's capture imminent, Max Sciandri launched a trademark attack up the nearside gutter, with David McKenzie frantically trying to stay on the Briton's wheel. However, the pace of the bunch was too much for the McCartney duo to hold off, yet David was still able to get amongst the sprinters at the death.

"On reflection, I would say that this has been a very good start to the year," said team manager Sean Yates back at the Tour Village. "The guys proved that they have wintered well, trained hard and prepared for the season in a very professional way. We've contributed a lot to the racing, and we've got our first UCI points of the year under our belts."

Report by John Deering

 1. Robbie McEwen (Farm Frites)        2.05.17
 2. Jaan Kirsipuu (Ag2R - Prevoyance) @   0.01
 3. Stuart O'Grady (Credit Agricole)
 6. David McKenzie
 8. Tayeb Braikia
17. Pascal Richard
24. Maurizio De Pascale
25. Matthew Stephens
34. Bjornar Vestol
37. Maximilian Sciandri
45. Ben Brooks


Final Overall:

 1. Gilles Maignan (Ag2R-Prevoyance)  19.02.27
 2. Stuart O'Grady (Credit Agricole)  @   0.12
 3. Steffen Wesemann (Telekom)        @   0.14
 8. Matthew Stephens                  @   4.11
21. Maurizio De Pascale               @  37.24
35. Ben Brooks                        @  46.54
51. Tayeb Braikia                     @1.02.31
52. David McKenzie                    @1.02.32
53. Pascal Richard
54. Bjornar Vestol
56. Maximilian Sciandri


Final Overall Sprints:

 1. Guillaume Auger (Big Mat-Auber93)    22pts
29. Tayeb Braikia                         2pts


Final Overall Under 23:

 1. Sandy Casar (Francaise Des Jeux)  19.02.51
 5. Ben Brooks                        @  46.30