Former skater Tom Slagter says Tour Down Under win a fairytale

TOM Slagter yesterday became the second Dutch-born winner to claim the Tour Down Under.

TOM Slagter yesterday became the second Dutch-born winner to claim the Tour Down Under and revealed his cycling fairytale started when he traded speed skates for a bike.

Amsterdam-born Patrick Jonker, now based in SA won the TDU in 2004, before Slagter created another chapter of Dutch courage in the 758.5km WorldTour race.

The 23-year-old team Blanco all-rounder said he may never have known how good he was on the bike until he tackled the hills of The Netherlands during the speed skating off-season four years ago.

Slagter, only three weeks into his maiden WorldTour contract with the Dutch outfit, said he was not the "best speed skater" despite being amongst the top-10 in The Netherlands.

"In speed skating in the nationals I was only fifth, sixth and seventh," said Slagter who has vowed to return to the TDU to defend his new crown.

"The sport is much smaller than cycling but I'm really happy I changed to cycling because I think I proved I'm better in cycling."

Slatger said he owed his victory to his Australian and Dutch contingent of teammates.

Graeme Brown's courageous display on the bike after revealing it was the worst crash he's ever had on Friday appeared to fuel the race winning siege mentality for Blanco.

Brown pushing past the pain threshold on Stage 5 during the brutal two Old Willunga climbs after doing a lot of hard work during the flatter stages of the McLaren Vale to Willunga stage on Saturday forced Slatger into the ochre jersey on Saturday.

Slatger who expects the reaction to his win to be massive in The Netherlands said SA's Jack Bobridge and fellow Australians Mark Renshaw and David Tanner and Dutchmen Wilco Kelderman and Maarten Tjallingii were awesome throughout the week.

Bobridge was runner-up in the king of the mountain overall category while Kelderman was third in the young rider classification.

Slagter added another four seconds to his 13 second lead before the final stage over Movistar's Javir Moreno to claim the emphatic ochre jersey and the young rider general classification in a perfect start to his season.

"It's really strange for me I've never won a race and my first win was at Stirling," Slatger said. "But I'll take the jersey now it's amazing I can't believe it.

"It brings some pressure also for me.

"We came here with the goal for me to be in the first 10 and I think even sixth or seventh.

"But yeah it's incredible I really didn't think I could make this."

German machine Andre Greipel claimed the Stage 6 victory when his powerful legs out-muscled a cheeky attack from Renshaw before earning his fourth victory in seven days which included three stage wins and the prologue.

Greipel said his 14th TDU win was put down to "Mother Nature" after reports declared it was his 100th career win yesterday.

But Greipel disagreed saying he has had more than 100 wins in his career.

"I don't know I didn't count (the number of wins) but I thought I had already more than 100," he said.

"It's always nice to get another win and I think we always took responsibility during the week for the sprints and think we worked hard to get four sprint possibilities."

STAGE 6 RESULTS

1. Andre Greipel (LTB, GER) 1h52m59s

2. Mark Renshaw (BLA, AUS) st

3. Edvald Boasson Hagen (SKY, NOR) st

4. Matt Goss (GEC, AUS) st

5. Tyler Farrar (GRM, USA) st

6. Geraint Thomas (SKY, GBR) st

7. Klaas Lodewyck (BMC, BEL) st

8. Barry Markus (VCD, NED) st

9. Yauheni Hutarovich (ALM, BLR) st

10. Kenny Van Hummel (VCD, NED) st

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Tom-Jelte Slagter (BLA, NED) 18h28m32s

2. Javier Moreno (MOV, ESP) at 17s

3. Geraint Thomas (SKY, GBR) at 25s

4. Ion Izaguirre (EUS, ESP) at 32s 

5. Ben Hermans (RAD, BEL) at 34s

6. Wilco Kelderman (BLA, NED) at 34s

7. Gorka Izaguirre (EUS, ESP) at 36s

8. Daniele Pietropolli (LAM, ITA) at 36s

9. Tiago MacHado (RAD, POR) at 38s

10. Jussi Veikkanen (FDJ, FIN) at 41s.

SPRINT CLASSIFICATION

1. Geraint Thomas (SKY, GBR) 46 pts

2. Andre Greipel (LTB, GER) 45

3. Tom-Jelte Slagter (BLA, NED) 41

4. Javier Moreno (MOV, ESP) 37

5. Mark Renshaw (BLA, AUS) 36.

KING OF THE MOUNTAIN

1. Javier Moreno (MOV, ESP) 22 pts

2. Jack Bobridge (BLA, AUS) 20 2

3. Geraint Thomas (SKY, GBR) 16

4. Simon Gerrans (GEC, AUS) 16

5. Eros Capecchi (MOV, ITA) 16.

TEAM CLASSIFICATION

1. RADIOSHACK LEOPARD TREK 55h27m54s

2. MOVISTAR TEAM at 1m9s

3. LOTTO-BELISOL at 4m

4. BLANCO PRO CYCLING TEAM at 5m14s

5. EUSKALTEL-EUSKADI at 5m34s 5.

REPLAY our live coverage of the final stage of the Tour Down Under below