Sunday, 15 July 2012:

Before Australian Adam Hansen played a key role in Andre Greipel's latest Tour de France stage win, he had to leave his teammate in trouble.

Hansen's dual roles in the Lotto-Belisol team at the Tour meant he was kept busy on stage 13.

Apart from helping look after Greipel, Hansen is also a domestique for Jurgen Van den Broeck, who is fifth overall.

So when the peloton split on Mont Saint-Clair climb, about 23km from the finish, Hansen had to make a decision - stay with Van den Broeck, or help put Greipel back into stage contention.

As it turned out, Hansen fulfilled the two roles admirably.

He initially made sure Van den Broeck was out of trouble.

Then, once the riders came off the climb and charged to the finish, Hansen helped drive the pace in the peloton as they kept a two-rider break under control.

Swiss Orica-GreenEDGE rider Michael Albasini and Kazakh Alexandre Vinokourov were caught with 2.5km left and Greipel eventually flew past his rivals for the win.

"I've been there for both the guys, but it's not easy," Hansen said.

"Today on that climb, I was meant to stay with Van den Broeck and I thought, okay, I will watch to see where Van de Broeck is and I will try to help Andre.

"I saw Andre slipping back and I stayed with him, keeping an eye on Van den Broeck, and he was further up the road.

"Once I saw the gap, I thought, okay, the No.1 priority was to keep GC for Van den Broeck in the crosswind, so I had to leave Greipel behind and jump across.

"Luckily, we had a few other workers with Greipel."

AAP