Team HTC-Columbia's André Greipel won his second consecutive stage of the Santos Tour Down Under on Wednesday, sprinting into the small German heritage town of Hahndorf for his seventh stage victory of the Tour out of the eleven he has raced over the last three years.

A break of three were away for the majority of the race earning a time gap of 11 minutes but eventually being reeled in by the peloton.

"It was a good day for us because we didn't need to put a lot of effort in to chase the break down during the race," explained Greipel. "We wanted to let the break succeed today and save our energy for the harder stages coming up.

"However the other teams were keen to get the break back and did the work so we also helped a little. Towards the end of the race the team came together as a unit for the lead out and Goss did the final pull for me. It's nice to win here again.

"The climb during the race was quite difficult, especially because of the heat but the guys looked after me and we stayed in the front over the climb. Tomorrow will be a hard day but we're ready to give it everything."

Greipel leads the Tour Down Under overall with Greg Henderson and Gert Steegmans chasing him 14 seconds behind.