Battered Graeme Brown shows true Aussie grit

GRAEME Brown, with teammate Tom Slagter gunning for the lead, was enticed back onto his bike yesterday after declaring Friday's crash his worst ever.

Graeme Brown

BRAVEHEART Graeme Brown says Australia Day festivities and team-mate Tom Slagter gunning for overall honours enticed him back onto his bike yesterday after declaring Friday's crash his worst ever.

Brown, 33 and winner of three stages of the Tour Down Under, painted the ultimate picture of suffering during Stage 5 yesterday.

He had both arms heavily bandaged, his bandaged knees looked a mess but the Australian sprinter proved to other sports that cyclists cannot be described as soft.

While highly paid footballers are notoriously known for withdrawing from matches because of various impact injuries, Brown put on his "Superman" team Blanco outfit and was ready to suffer up Old Willunga Hill twice yesterday.

He was chased by the TDU's support vehicles both times up the hill but he did not throw in the towel.

Brown could have pulled the pin, his injuries looked horrendous.

He said nothing was going to stop him enjoying another stage of the Tour Down Under.

"I had to show the Australian spirit," Brown said after finishing the stage almost 13 minutes behind the leaders.

"It's Australia's biggest bike race. I wasn't just going to miss it because I went along and hit the ground at 60 km/h on Friday."

Brown revealed he couldn't recall much of Friday's clash which happened during the final stages of the Modbury to Tanunda section.

But he declared that hitting the hot bitumen at nearly 60km/h was firmly etched in his mind.

"I've been racing bikes for 30 years and I've been in accidents but that was my biggest crash I've ever had in a sprint," he said.

"I slid across the Tarmac. There's no skin on my elbow, I feel it, I'm taped up.

"If you're going to (crash), do it right. But nothing is broken.

"OK, it hurts with no skin on my arms but there's no other reason why I shouldn't have ridden.

"It's just another day on another job."

Brown said he would be ready to protect Slagter's ochre jersey when the TDU started its final stage of the 15th edition on the Adelaide City street circuit this afternoon.

The Dutchman has a handy 13-second lead over his nearest rival, Movistar's Javier Moreno.

"He's (Slagter) going really well, we all had faith in him and we gave it everything we could," Brown said.

"He's got some great form, he's beaten some pretty classy bike riders. That's also another reason to be here."