Stuart O'Grady aiming for 2014 Tour Down Under return

WELL that's my 13th Tour Down Under done and dusted and what a huge week, writes Stuart O'Grady.

WELL that's my 13th Tour Down Under done and dusted and what a huge week.

Straight after the race I was asked if it would be my last in Adelaide and hopefully it's not.

If I can get through the year without any crashes and in good health, we'll think about going on for another year.

Obviously the big ``r'' word  retirement  is popping up a bit more but I haven't put too much thought into it.

We'll see how we go and maybe try to finish off with the Commonwealth Games next year, something a bit special.

The TDU is an incredible event, very close to my heart and it's going to be very strange one day not racing here.

But this is the first race of the whole year and that's all I'm concentrating on for now.

There's no doubt changes to this year's course made it the hardest of all 15 editions.

Riders who arrived in Australia without their race legs certainly found them by the time they flew home last night.
The longer the race went, the better I felt which is a good sign going back to Europe.

The huge crowds who turned out to support the race, those who queued for autographs and photos with riders, and packed the village in Victoria Square showed that despite the negativity around cycling in the past few months, public support for the sport is as strong as ever.

It was a mixed week for our team Orica-GreenEDGE but Simon Gerrans' stirring win on top of Old Willunga Hill on Australia Day made all our hard work worthwhile.

Obviously we had ambitions to help Gerro defend his ochre jersey from last year but it wasn't to be.

There were some seriously good bike riders in this year's event and those at the front of the peloton had some seriously good form.

I have to admit we were starting to feel the pressure by the weekend, not just because we're an Australian team and Australia was yet to win a stage of the Tour, but because we put such high expectations on ourselves.

Our sprinter Matt Goss gave everything all week and was unlucky not to win Stage 3 in Stirling and we did our best to get in breakaways throughout the week.

But Saturday's win by Gerro no doubt saved the day.

No matter how many races you win or how many wins you're involved in, you never get sick of that feeling straight after a race victory.

For an Aussie, riding for an Aussie team to win on Australia Day in our home race is something I'll never forget.
I'm about to embark on another European season which starts at Mallorca but first I'll head home and spend some time with my family.

As for everyone in Adelaide, see you next year.

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