Thursday, 23 January 2014

Tour Down Under 2014 - Stage 4

It’s only been 3 days into the Tour Down Under but we’ve already had a classic example of the highs and lows of stages racing. Diego Ulissi’s fantastic showing on Stage 2 gave us a big winner but Cadel Evans’s long range attack and wide margin win on Corkscrew Hill yesterday has put him well into the driving  seat in terms of the overall with only Old Willunga Hill. Made all the more galling by the fact he received close consideration for both the overall and the stage, Evans’s win puts him 12 seconds  clear of Gerrans with Old Willunga Hill set to decide the final placing, and it’s hard to put up too much argument with odds of 4/11 based on the upcoming tests for all that Gerrans isn’t out of things yet – the two look to have the measure of the rest of the field with Richie Porte seemingly behind on fitness.

 Tour Down Under Stage 4
Today’s stage has a very complicated finished, as shown in the profile directly above, but it should be a sprint finish with the fast teams having only two realistic chances to take a win. This therefore, should be between Marcel Kittel and Andre Griepel, with preference for Kittel after his win over Greipel in the People’s Choice Classic despite starting his sprint behind the German. Kittel opened a strong favourite with most firms and still is, but Ladbrokes have taken an opposing view to most and have him at 6/4, the biggest price for either of the two – a rare opportunity for him on a flat sprint.


Of the bigger prices, pay attention to Steele Von Hoff, Elia Viviani, and Caleb Ewan in particular given that Matt Goss doesn’t look to have captured his form just right yet, although they are some way behind on the front two if evidence is to be believed.


Advice


2 pts win Marcel Kittel (6/4 Ladbrokes)


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