HTC-Columbia’s Andre Greipel survived the mountain stage at Tour Down Under to keep the race lead going into Sunday final stage in Adelaide.

The team controlled the race from the beginning and finally narrowed the gap to a break of four riders who attacked on the final climb at Willunga, finishing only nine seconds behind the race winner and giving Greipel an 11 second lead in the General Classification at the end of the day.

“I’m so thankful to my team,” said an exhausted Greipel after the stage. “Without them I wouldn’t be in the lead after today.

“All day the team worked at the front to keep the gap low to the first break. Then over the climb they really looked after me and we had to chase really hard all the way to the finish. We didn’t have time to panic. The break had 40 seconds. We just had to start chasing.

“The team has been working hard for me all week so I had to show them that I was thankful by really suffering to stay there on the climb today. Mick Rogers could have gone for his own victory today too but he wanted to stay with me and help me win the Tour.”

Tomorrow is a 90km circuit race in downtown Adelaide.