Tour Down Under 2018 – Stage 5 [FULL STAGE]

January 20, 2018

Tour Down Under 2018 – Stage 5 – McLaren Vale – Willunga Hill : 151,5 km

The 2018 Tour Down Under is a road cycling stage race, that is taking place between 16 and 21 January 2018 in South Australia. It is the 20th edition of the Tour Down Under and the first race of the 2018 UCI World Tour.

Richie Porte (BMC Racing) won the Willunga Hill stage of the Tour Down Under for the fifth year in succession but narrowly missed out on the leader’s jersey after a late fightback from Daryl Impey (Mitchelton Scott).

Porte distanced his rivals with two searing attacks and secured the stage win but Impey paced himself up the final climb, coming past a number of challengers – to take second on the stage. He finished eight seconds back and did enough to take the leader’s jersey on countback from Porte. Tom-Jelte Slagter (Dimension Data) finished third on the stage and now sits third overall with one stage remaining. Overnight leader, Peter Sagan, cracked on the lower slopes of the climb and dropped down the GC.

“”I tell you what that was the hardest one to win so far,” Porte said.

“I think it was such a hard lead in there at the bottom when Education First put it into the gutter. I felt great and the guys looked after me all day but it hurt so much. We talked about it this morning with guys like Simon Gerrans. He has been a fantastic addition to our team. I couldn’t look back, I just had to go. Of course, you look back a bit and I could see that Jay McCarthy (Bora-hansgrohe) was strong to start with. I think this stage is much better for me than it is for him so I just stuck in. I must admit with 300 meters to go, I almost stopped. Maybe I went a bit too hard. Last year winning with the ochre jersey was special but this is up there as one of the most special too.”

The stage came alive just before the climb when EF-Education First accelerated in the crosswinds just before the final climb. The move split the peloton and BMC Racing briefly looked in disarray with Porte scrambling at the back of the reduced peloton as his team failed to manage the situation at first. They regained control before the road kicked up and Rohan Dennis was put to work on the lower slopes of Willunga as the riders faced a stiff headwind.

Dennis’ work strung the lead group out and stopped any genuine attacks. The wearing down process looked to have worked when Porte attacked for the first time with 1.8km to go.

By that time Sagan was long gone but Bora-Hansgrohe’s Jay McCarthy was able to follow Porte’s initial move. If the Bora rider could hold Porte until the top he could have taken the leader’s jersey but the Porte’s second acceleration – just as Team Sky’s Egan Bernal was coming back – was too much and last year’s champion rose out of the saddle for the rest of the climb.

Behind Porte, a number of attacks were made with Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) among those to make moves. However, it was Impey who raced the most intelligent race. First, he chased down the fading McCarthy before setting his sights on the riders still in front of him. As Porte lifted his arms in victory it was Impey who came around the final corner next, with the South African taking vital seconds on the line from Slagter. Finishing second put Impey into the leader’s jersey on countback and he will be expected to seal the overall win tomorrow with the stage set to end in another sprint stage.

Impey came into the event as a relative darkhorse with Mitchelton proclaiming that they were coming into the race chasing stage wins with Caleb Ewan. Throughout the Australian season they have played their chances down and heaped the pressure on BMC while racing better and smarter. On Willunga their plan came together perfectly, and although the margin of Impey’s lead is based on countback, he is just one stage away from become the first South African to win the race.

“I can’t believe it, to have the leader’s jersey is just fantastic and to be in Australia and in an Australian team and deliver like this after all of their help is just really amazing.”

“I’ve gone pretty well up Willunga before, maybe not this well, but also I have come here as a bit of a protected rider this year so I think it pays dividends at the end of a race like this. That being said it is always a question mark so when you surprise yourself like today it is special.”

“When Richie attacked I just used everyone there and I knew the guys where still racing for the podium so I just rode my own race. I always knew in the back of my mind I had to do a big sprint to the top and I didn’t actually know where Richie was at the finish, so when I saw the time I knew maybe I could be in the jersey.”

How it unfolded

The early stages of the race were made when a seven-man group formed just after the flag dropped. Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) – who was in the break on the same stage last year – was joined by mountains jersey leader, Nicholas Dlamini (Dimension Data), Scott Bowden (UniSA-Australia), Mads Würtz Schmidt (Katusha-Alpecin), Zakkari Dempster (UniSA-Australia), Fumiyuki Beppu (Trek-Segafredo) and Nuno Bico (Movistar Team).

The Movistar rider had an early crash but battled back to the rest of the group as Bora set about controlling affairs for the first hour. The break of seven established a lead of almost five minutes before BMC Racing injected some pace into proceedings, with a number of teams eventually lending their support as the first ascent of Willunga Hill came into view. Bahrain Merida, LottoNL Jumbo and UAE all looked impressive at that point as Mitchelton sat back and protected Impey.

The climb split the break with De Gendt and Dlamini soon the only two riders at the front of the bunch. The Lotto Soudal rider kicked on over the top and briefly held a minute’s advantage over the chasing pack.

He was eventually caught inside the final 10 kilometers as EF Education put the hammer down. That action almost cost Porte any chance of defending his title as he was forced into the gutter, and it certainly cost him some energy. Porte was certainly the strongest climb on Willunga but as the line approached he didn’t appear to be turning the pedals with the same cadence as twelve months ago – understandable given the strong headwind. His two attacks were vicious enough to win the stage but not finish Impey.

Results :
1 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team 3:42:22
2 Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:08
3 Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data 0:00:10
4 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
5 Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) Team Sky
6 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
7 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
8 Robert Gesink (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:14
9 Jon Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
10 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) Trek-Segafredo
11 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
12 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
13 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
14 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
15 Chris Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
16 George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo
17 Mickael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:19
18 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team
19 Nathan Earle (Aus) UniSA-Australia
20 Brendan Canty (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
21 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data
22 Luis León Sánchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team
23 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:24
24 Rubén Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:35
25 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data
26 Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:44
27 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:00:47
28 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:51
29 Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:01:02
30 Lars Ytting Bak (Den) Lotto Soudal 0:01:12
31 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:01:16
32 Tiago Machado (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
33 Georg Preidler (Aut) Groupama-FDJ
34 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:18
35 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo
36 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
37 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team
38 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:24
39 Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:45
40 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:01:47
41 Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek-Segafredo
42 Rui Alberto Faria da Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:56
43 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:01
44 Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team 0:02:06
45 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida 0:02:08
46 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale
47 Simon Gerrans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:02:28
48 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team 0:02:33
49 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
50 Steele von Hoff (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:02:45
51 Marco Marcato (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:55
52 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:03:24
53 Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
54 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:03:42
55 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data 0:03:55
56 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:04:04
57 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Sunweb
58 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team 0:04:26
59 Koen de Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:04:39
60 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:04:41
61 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
62 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
63 Maarten Wynants (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo
64 Jhonatan Restrepo (Col) Katusha-Alpecin
65 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky
66 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
67 William Clarke (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:04:56
68 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
69 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:05:18
70 Timothy Roe (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:05:53
71 Tom Leezer (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:06:15
72 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
73 Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:06:42
74 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Quick-Step Floors
75 Mitchell Docker (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:07:28
76 Jacobus Venter (RSA) Dimension Data
77 Miles Scotson (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:07:29
78 Daan Olivier (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:08:08
79 Scott Bowden (Aus) UniSA-Australia
80 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
81 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
82 Alex Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:08:26
83 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Team Sky 0:08:45
84 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
85 Logan Owen (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:09:46
86 Thomas Scully (NZl) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
87 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal
88 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:09:56
89 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb 0:10:52
90 Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
91 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Astana Pro Team
92 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:11:47
93 Patrick Bevin (NZl) BMC Racing Team
94 Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
95 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Groupama-FDJ
96 Chris Lawless (GBr) Team Sky
97 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
98 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo
99 Carlos Barbero Cuesta (Spa) Movistar Team
100 Jaime Castrillo (Spa) Movistar Team
101 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Bahrain-Merida
102 Alex Porter (Aus) UniSA-Australia
103 Sam Welsford (Aus) UniSA-Australia
104 Nicholas Dlamini (RSA) Dimension Data
105 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data
106 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Soudal
107 Nuno Bico (Por) Movistar Team
108 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto Soudal
109 Robert Wagner (Ger) LottoNL-Jumbo
110 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:12:44
111 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
112 Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
113 Riccardo Minali (Ita) Astana Pro Team
114 Florian Sénéchal (Fra) Quick-Step Floors
115 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) UniSA-Australia
116 Mads Würtz Schmidt (Den) Katusha-Alpecin
117 Alex Frame (NZl) Trek-Segafredo
118 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin
119 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe
120 Matteo Bono (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
121 Rudiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
122 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
123 Truls Engen Korsaeth (Nor) Astana Pro Team 0:13:00
124 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:13:13
125 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Groupama-FDJ
DNS Anthony Roux (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNS Jack Bauer (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott

General Classification after Stage 5 :
1 Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott 18:02:15
2 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team
3 Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data 00:00:16
4 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:20
5 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
6 Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) Team Sky
7 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
8 Robert Gesink (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:24
9 George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo
10 Jon Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
11 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
12 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
13 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) Trek-Segafredo
14 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
15 Chris Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
16 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
17 Luis León Sánchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:00:25
18 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:29
19 Mickael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
20 Nathan Earle (Aus) UniSA-Australia
21 Brendan Canty (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
22 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data
23 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data 0:00:45
24 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:00:57
25 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:01
26 Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:01:12
27 Lars Ytting Bak (Den) Lotto Soudal 0:01:22
28 Georg Preidler (Aut) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:26
29 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:01:28
30 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
31 Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:57
32 Rui Alberto Faria da Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:06
33 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:29
34 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:03:04
35 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team 0:03:09
36 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:05:24
37 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:06:10
38 Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Katusha-Alpecin 0:06:16
39 Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale 0:06:23
40 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:06:34
41 Simon Gerrans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:07:06
42 Timothy Roe (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:07:24
43 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida 0:09:00
44 Marco Marcato (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:09:57
45 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:10:16
46 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky 0:10:30
47 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data 0:10:43
48 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:10:44
49 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale 0:11:20
50 Rubén Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team 0:11:24
51 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:11:43
52 Koen de Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:12:00
53 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team 0:12:23
54 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:12:31
55 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:13:06
56 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:13:45
57 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:13:47
58 Tiago Machado (Por) Katusha-Alpecin 0:13:50
59 Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team 0:14:18
60 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:15:30
61 Daan Olivier (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:15:36
62 Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:15:43
63 Miles Scotson (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:15:51
64 William Clarke (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:16:16
65 Jhonatan Restrepo (Col) Katusha-Alpecin 0:16:20
66 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo 0:16:22
67 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky 0:16:32
68 Nuno Bico (Por) Movistar Team 0:16:57
69 Maarten Wynants (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:17:19
70 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:17:26
71 Steele von Hoff (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:18:32
72 Tom Leezer (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:19:41
73 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team 0:19:55
74 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:20:20
75 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Quick-Step Floors 0:21:05
76 Alex Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:22:43
77 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:23:07
78 Carlos Barbero Cuesta (Spa) Movistar Team 0:23:27
79 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:23:34
80 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:23:46
81 Thomas Scully (NZl) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:00:01
82 Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:12
83 Mitchell Docker (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:24:22
84 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:24:45
85 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
86 Jacobus Venter (RSA) Dimension Data 0:25:27
87 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:26:03
88 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:26:30
89 Matteo Bono (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:26:39
90 Patrick Bevin (NZl) BMC Racing Team 0:27:13
91 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:28:20
92 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:29:06
93 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:29:24
94 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:30:01
95 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb 0:30:17
96 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data 0:30:48
97 Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:31:18
98 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Groupama-FDJ 0:33:01
99 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:33:02
100 Nicholas Dlamini (RSA) Dimension Data 0:33:40
101 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Team Sky 0:33:55
102 Alex Porter (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:34:27
103 Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:34:53
104 Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:35:10
105 Jaime Castrillo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:35:41
106 Riccardo Minali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:35:46
107 Florian Sénéchal (Fra) Quick-Step Floors 0:35:58
108 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:36:12
109 Truls Engen Korsaeth (Nor) Astana Pro Team 0:36:26
110 Logan Owen (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:37:25
111 Chris Lawless (GBr) Team Sky 0:38:02
112 Rudiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:38:14
113 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:38:31
114 Robert Wagner (Ger) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:39:05
115 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:39:07
116 Mads Würtz Schmidt (Den) Katusha-Alpecin 0:41:24
117 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:41:33
118 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:41:49
119 Scott Bowden (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:41:53
120 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:45:21
121 Alex Frame (NZl) Trek-Segafredo 0:47:29
122 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:50:50
123 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Bahrain-Merida 0:54:19
124 Sam Welsford (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:55:03
125 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Groupama-FDJ 0:58:35