ADELAIDE, Australia — Andre Greipel signaled the seriousness of his bid to win the Tour Down Under cycle race for a third time when he easily outsprinted his rivals Sunday to win the tour's 51-kilometer criterium. The German sprint star, riding for the Lotto Belisol team, claimed his third win in the criterium, which is raced over 10 laps of a course through parkland near downtown Adelaide. He went on to win the six-stage tour twice previously, in 2008 and 2010, beating a field including Lance Armstrong for his second victory. The criterium does not count toward general classification in the Tour, which starts with a 135-kilometer stage Tuesday. Greipel does win the right to wear the tour leader's ocher jersey in the opening stage from Prospect to Lobethal on Adelaide's outskirts. Teammates Adam Hansen of Australia, Marcel Sieberg of Germany and Greg Henderson of New Zealand played key roles in Greipel's win Sunday. They led the sprint train that dragged Greipel to the front of the pack for the final dash to the line and he was able to hold off Australia's Matthew Goss by just over a bike length. Goss finished second and Henderson third while Boy Van Popple of the Netherlands was fifth and Edvald Boasson Hagen of Norway fifth. The race was led for 21 of its 30 laps by the young Australian Zakkary Dempster riding for the UniSA Australia team and Jens Voigt of Germany, the oldest rider in the peleton at 41. The pair did an outstanding job to keep clear of the bunch for more than two thirds of the race, allowing Dempster to win the first four interim sprints. Voigt, riding for RadioShack Leopard Trek — Armstrong's former team — is contesting the Tour Down Under for the fourth time in his 16th year as a professional rider. His best result in Australia was a 17th placing in 2009 but he is a winner of three stages on the Tour De France and won the fourth stage of last year's Tour of Colorado. When the pair was brought back to the peleton, a number of teams tried to control the race from the front but it was the practiced train of the Lotto Belisol team that set up Greipel's win. — AP
