Cycling News

TDU Stage 3 - Cardoso claims Footon's first ProTour win

Portuguese rider creates upset ahead of the stars in Stirling

It could have been a scene from an Ardennes Classic: a tough circuit, a hilly finale and Alejandro Valverde head-to-head with World Champion Cadel Evans. The only difference was that today's race was in Australia, in January and neither of these two stars won.

That honour went to Portuguese national champion Manuel Cardoso, however.

Bursting forth from a Caisse d'Epargne-controlled peloton, Cardoso held off Valverde and Evans in the closing metres of a hilly 132km romp from Unley to Stirling to open Footon-Servetto's ProTour victory account for 2010 and record his first win as a ProTour rider.

In the process he poured rain over the sprinters' parade on a day when the Mercury touched 40 degrees Celsius, the hottest day of this year's Santos Tour Down Under and an element that played its part in the stage result.

Source: CyclingNews.com
Subject: Racing

Link: View full article