Logan Owen closes out Tour Down Under with Most Competitive award

American Pro Cyclist Logan Owen (EF Education First - Drapac p/b Cannondale) climbed onto his first WorldTour podium as the Tour Down Under race came to a close in Adelaide on Sunday

The neo-pro raced aggressively off the front of the peloton on stage six of the Santos Tour Down Under to earn the Most Competitive prize.

“I was meant to go for the sprint and help Mitch Docker and Scud (Tom Scully) in the finish,” said Owen. “Will Clarke was meant to be in the break. He went for it a few times in the beginning and made a really big effort, but the start was really hard and really fast today. When I saw him going backwards, I took the opportunity to follow wheels.”

Five laps into the 90-kilometer, 20-lap circuit race, Owen found himself up the road with Truls Korsaeth (Astana). Laurent Didier (Trek-Segafredo) bridged across on lap six. The trio gained a maximum advantage of 1:56 as Lotto-Soudal and Mitchelton-SCOTT controlled the peloton.

“When I ended up off the front, I was like: ‘I guess I’m going to roll with it.’ and after that, I rode as hard as I could,” said Owen. “But only a few laps into the move, Astana stopped riding and then Trek stopped riding. That’s when I decided I was going to go at it alone. I had already dug a deep enough hole where I couldn’t have helped the team in the finish, so my only chance to do something at that point was to go for the win.”

The 22-year-old’s solo move was short-lived. Ben O’Connor (Dimension Data) bridged across to Owen on lap nine.

“He came flying up to me,” noted Owen. “I sat on him for awhile. It didn’t benefit me to help him get bonus time, and he was going crazy hard anyway. I thought I could catch a ride for a bit and hopefully make a bid for the finish. I started rolling again when Ben got his sprint points and bonus seconds.”

With four laps remaining and the gap between the bunch and the breakaway beginning to tumble, Owen attacked O’Connor. The American’s efforts afforded him another two laps out front. The peloton shut down the solo bid for glory just beyond the 18th passage of the finish line.

“I threw an attack there at the end to really give it my all,” said Owen. “I always knew it was going to be a long shot.”

The pace was too high in the peloton for any counter-attacks. Several teams jostled for control during the last lap. Team Sunweb and Quick-Step appeared the most organized, but it was Lotto-Soudal who delivered. André Griepel sprinted to his second 2018 Santos Tour Down Under stage win, a record-extending 18th career victory in Australia’s only WorldTour race.

Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-SCOTT) finished on bunch time to become the first South African to win the Santos Tour Down Under overall. Brendan Canty, EF Education First – Drapac p/b Cannodale’s best-placed general classification rider, closed out the week in 22nd place at 29-seconds.

“This was a great week,” said Owen. “It feels like a continuation of what I’ve already been doing with Axeon, my under-23 team. We were serious when we needed to be and had fun when we could. All in all, it was a solid start and a really awesome time. I think this is going to be a great year.”

VIDEO: 2018 Santos Tour Down Under Stage 6 Highlights

2018 Santos Tour Down Under - Stage 6 Top 10 Results

1 Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 2:01:19 
2 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott   
3 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe   
4 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Sunweb   
5 Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors   
6 Steele von Hoff (Aus) UniSA-Australia   
7 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates   
8 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo   
9 Carlos Barbero Cuesta (Spa) Movistar Team   
10 Mads Würtz Schmidt (Den) Katusha-Alpecin

2018 Santos Tour Down - Final Overall Classification Top 10

1 Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott 20:03:34 
2 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team   
3 Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data 0:00:16 
4 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:20 
5 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors   
6 Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) Team Sky   
7 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Bahrain-Merida   
8 Luis León Sánchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:00:23 
9 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) Trek-Segafredo   
10 Robert Gesink (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:24 

2018 Santos Tour Down - Sprinters Jersey Top 10 

1 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 64  pts
2 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 56 
3 Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 52 
4 Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott 42 
5 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Sunweb 36 
6 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe 32 
7 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 32 
8 Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 30 
9 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 29 
10 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin 25

2018 Santos Tour Down - Kings of the Mountains Jersey Top 10

1 Nicholas Dlamini (RSA) Dimension Data 48  pts
2 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team 36 
3 Scott Bowden (Aus) UniSA-Australia 26 
4 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 17 
5 Simon Gerrans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 16 
6 Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott 12 
7 William Clarke (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 12 
8 Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data 8 
9 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 8

2018 Santos Tour Down - Young Riders Jersey Top 10

1 Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) Team Sky 20:03:54 
2 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:03 
3 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:04 
4 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb   
5 Chris Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb   
6 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors   
7 Ben O'Connor (Aus) Dimension Data 0:00:06 
8 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data 0:00:25 
9 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:49 
10 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:05:04

2018 Santos Tour Down - Team Classification Top 10

1 Bahrain - Merida 60:11:50 
2 Team Dimension Data 0:00:26 
3 Quick - Step Floors 0:01:04 
4 Team Sunweb 0:01:06 
5 AG2R La Mondiale 0:05:36 
6 EF Education First - Drapac 0:05:37 
7 Trek - Segafredo 0:06:37 
8 UAE Team Emirates 0:07:20 
9 BMC Racing Team 0:07:36 
10 Team Lotto Nl - Jumbo 0:10:37