Tour Down Under 2018 – Stage 4 [FULL STAGE]

January 19, 2018

Tour Down Under 2018 – Stage 4 – Norwood – Uraidla : 128,2 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.

As expected, the Santos Tour Down Under received a veritable shake-up on stage 4 between Norwood and Uraidla on Friday, with world champion Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) taking the stage victory in a group sprint, and with it the overall lead in the race.

However, popular winner Sagan will now have to prove his mettle on Saturday’s fifth stage, which includes two ascents of Willunga Hill. Although the likes of defending TDU champion Richie Porte, BMC team-mate Rohan Dennis and Mitchelton-Scott’s Daryl Impey – second on the stage to Sagan – were in the mix at the finish of stage 4, Sagan proved that he wanted it most, biding his time with a measured ride to the top of the 6km-long, 5% average-grade climb of Norton Summit, 7km from the finish, before first attacking and then, finally, unleashing his sprint.

Sagan’s Bora-Hansgrohe team-mate Jay McCarthy would have been the more obvious choice for the stage victory on Friday’s stage, and it looked earlier on as though Sagan would play a helper role for him.

McCarthy nevertheless remains third overall, nine seconds behind Sagan, with the Bora Hansgrohe team-mates sandwiching Daryl Impey, who is only two seconds down on Sagan.

‘Man of the match’, however, has to go to UniSA-Australia’s Zak Dempster, who spent all day until the base of Norton Summit at the head of the race, first with team-mate Alex Porter – until the heat and pace proved too much, and Porter dropped off with 45km to go – and then alone until just under 20km to go.

That was the cue for the big-name contenders to take over, and although Porte and Lotto-Jumbo’s George Bennett gave it a good crack, at the front of a 30-strong group that made it over the top of the climb, it was Sagan who had kept his powder dry the longest, first attacking inside the final 4km on a downhill section, and then having enough left to overhaul Impey, who had opened the final sprint.

It was Sagan’s first stage win at the Tour Down Under. “It’s very nice,” he agreed at the finish. “I won the criterium already [Sunday’s People’s Choice Classic], but every day here on the race it’s been a different winner, which is great for the race.

“But we all know why we’re here,” he continued, referring to McCarthy. “For Jay, it’s a big race at home, and we know that tomorrow is going to be a much harder race than today.

“Tomorrow is going to be a different story!” he grinned, seemingly conceding that McCarthy may yet still be Bora-Hansgrohe’s best bet for the overall victory in Adelaide on Sunday.

Believe it when you see it. Sagan has proven once again that he’s capable of almost anything.

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

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