time champion Andre Greipel of Germany overcame fierce crosswinds, soaring temperatures and a late crash that sent three riders and a spectator to hospital to win the first stage on the Tour Down Under Tuesday. Greipel beat Alessandro Petacchi of Italy narrowly in a sprint finish in temperatures of 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) to claim his ninth stage victory in the six-stage race, the opening event of the UCI World Tour. The sprint ace also won the tour's criterium prelude Sunday for the Belgium-based Lotto-Belisol team. He won the Tour Down Under in 2008 and 2010. Petacchi took second place Tuesday for the Lampre-ISD team while Yauheni Hutarovich of Belarus was third and Fabio Sabatini of Italy fourth. The first 149-kilometer stage featured a four-man breakaway which stayed away from the peleton almost from the start at Prospect in the suburbs of Adelaide to within 12 kilometersof the finish at Clare, in the heart of the neighboring wine district. The breakaway group of Russia's Eduard Vorganov, Switzerland's Martin Kohler, Italy's Marcello Pavarin and young Australian Rohan Dennis led by margins of almost 12 minutes as the peleton struggled to mount an effective chase in the high winds. The leaders were finally caught just past the township of Sevenhill and, though a few riders tried late breakaways, they were covered and the field was all together 2 kilometers from the finish line. Greipel avoided a late crash involving up to 60 riders and was again helped to victory by the powerful leadout train of the Lotto-Belisol team.
