Tour Down Under 2019 – Stage 4 [LAST 20 KM]

January 18, 2019

Tour Down Under 2019 – Stage 4 – Unley – Campbelltown : 129,2 km

The 2019 Tour Down Under will once again kick off the WorldTour season in Australia. The racing will begin with the People’s Choice Classic on January 13 and the peloton will move straight into the stage race held from January 15 to 20 in and around Adelaide. The climb of Willunga Hill will feature as the climax to the 2019 Tour Down Under, as the Australian UCI WorldTour event eschews its final ‘Champs-Elysées-like’ processional stage in favour of a ‘queen stage’ that should keep things exciting right to the very end. In 2019 last year’s winner Darly Impey (Mitchelton Scott) returns to defend his crown. He will be joined by Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe), Richie Porte (Trek Segafredo) and Rohan Dennis (Bahrain Merida). The race will also represent Caleb Ewan’s first outing as a Lotto Soudal rider after his move from Mitchelton Scott.

Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) won stage 4 of the Tour Down Under in Campbelltown on Friday after the reduced bunch pulled back a dangerous breakaway that escaped on the Corkscrew climb less than 6km from the finish. Impey came from the back of the group in the finishing straight to overtake race leader Patrick Bevin (CCC Team) and Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) well ahead of the line.

Bevin, who held on for second ahead of Sanchez, continues to lead the general classification, but Impey moved into second place at just seven seconds, with Sanchez now third, 11 seconds back.

The sprint from a reduced group of about 20 riders came after Bevin pulled back a late escape by Michael Woods (EF Education First), George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma), Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) and Wout Poels (Team Sky) that went clear on the Corkscrew climb. Bevin railed the descent to the finish and made contact with the front group with 2km remaining.

In the final kilometre, Sanchez came through a right-hand corner with about 800 metres to go in the lead, but was quickly overtaken by Bevin, who appeared to be sprinting to another stage win. It was an initially ill-positioned Impey, however, who had the quickest final surge as Bevin began to fade, giving the defending champion the stage victory.

“We knew that it was going to be hard, but it’s fantastic to win today,” Impey said. “The guys put their faith in me. Luke [Durbridge] did a massive job there at the beginning. The other guys were looking after me, and Lucas Hamilton rode like a true professional at the end.

“I knew Bevin would have a good shot at winning, so I’m super happy to win today. To be honest, I had a good mate who passed away in early January. I had him in my mind, and I dedicate this victory to him. I was really pushing for him at the end. It’s such a special win,” he said.

Despite losing time to Impey due to the time bonuses awarded at the finish, Bevin heads into Saturday’s fifth stage with the confidence of a still-seven-second buffer.

“This race is hard,” the New Zealander told the press after collecting another ochre leader’s jersey. “I took the onus as much as I had to on the descent, and I knew that as the group got bigger, it got to the point where any time bonus would be good, and certainly better than none.

“I wasn’t going to risk losing time to anyone,” said Bevin. “To lose just four seconds to Daryl is a great result. I don’t feel like he’s climbing better than I am, and we put time into the pure climbers again.”

Before the hoped-for fireworks began on the Corkscrew, six riders had spent the day away in a breakaway, and were still trying to hang on to their slim advantage as the final climb began, inside the last 10km of the 129.2km stage from Unley to Campbelltown.

Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Hermann Pernsteiner (Bahrain-Merida), AG2R La Mondiale’s Benoit Cosnefroy, Miles Scotson (Groupama-FDJ, UniSA-Australia’s Nick White and Jasha Sütterlin (Movistar) escaped almost from the gun, building up a healthy lead that peaked at just over five minutes with 50km of the stage covered.

With temperatures in the high 20s (degrees Centigrade) – rather than the low 40s that have so far plagued the race – and even some rain midway through the stage, the breakaway was willing to race hard. But Bevin and his CCC team ensured that the six riders were kept in check, with the lead tumbling to under two minutes going into the final 30 kilometres.

Up front, and with the breakaway’s lead continuing to drop, Scotson took advantage of a slight rise to force the pace, knowing that they’d need to maintain a considerable advantage before the final climb began, although his acceleration quickly put White, Cosnefroy and De Gendt in trouble.

Scotson, Pernsteiner and Sütterlin pushed on alone on the downhill run to the start of Corkscrew, and hit the climb with an advantage of well under a minute on the chasing bunch. Led by a three-man Sky train, it wasn’t long before Cosnefroy, De Gendt and White’s day was over – soon followed by the catch of Scotson and Sütterlin.

As contact with Pernsteiner was made around a kilometre from the top of Corkscrew, Sky’s designated leader, Poels, attacked, and was followed by Porte, Bennett and Woods, and it was that quartet that crested the climb with a slim advantage over the chasers as they plunged down the descent with six kilometres to go – all downhill to the finish.

However, the 20-strong group – which included Bevin, Impey, Sanchez, Rohan Dennis (Bahrain-Merida) and Chris Hamilton (Team Sunweb) – made contact with just two kilometres to go, and the overall favourites readied themselves for a sprint, in which Impey’s dominance was never really in doubt. Bevin and Sanchez’s second and third places, meanwhile, with the bonus seconds that come with them, could now prove vital.

Results :
1 Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott 3:03:27
2 Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team
3 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team
4 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
5 Rubén Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
6 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma
7 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
8 Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First Pro Cycling
9 Chris Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
10 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Sky
11 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
12 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) Dimension Data
13 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb
14 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky
15 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
16 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
17 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
18 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
19 Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
20 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
21 Lluís Mas (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:21
22 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
23 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Groupama-FDJ
24 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data
25 Gregor Muhlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
26 Herman Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain-Merida
27 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data
28 Dimitrii Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:32
29 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
30 Dylan Sunderland (Aus) UniSA-Australia
31 Eduard Prades (Spa) Movistar Team
32 Remi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
33 Chris Harper (Aus) UniSA-Australia
34 Michael Valgren (Den) Dimension Data
35 Steve Morabito (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
36 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal
37 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb
38 Héctor Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:34
39 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:49
40 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
41 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
42 Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:02
43 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) EF Education First Pro Cycling
44 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:05
45 Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:15
46 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
47 Clement Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:25
48 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep
49 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal
50 Sven Erik Bystrom (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
51 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) Trek-Segafredo
52 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal
53 Lars Bak (Den) Dimension Data 0:01:48
54 Victor De La Parte (Spa) CCC Team 0:02:05
55 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team 0:02:21
56 Rafael Valls (Spa) Movistar Team
57 Davide Ballerini (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:02:53
58 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
59 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
60 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
61 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
62 Yukiya Arashiro (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
63 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
64 Nick White (Aus) UniSA-Australia
65 James Whelan (Aus) EF Education First Pro Cycling
66 Daniel Hoelgaard (Nor) Groupama-FDJ 0:03:10
67 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal
68 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo
69 Leo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
70 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Team Sky
71 Tom Leezer (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:03:23
72 Ryan Mullen (Ire) Trek-Segafredo
73 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Astana Pro Team
74 Nic Dlamini (RSA) Dimension Data
75 Mat Hayman (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
76 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Team 0:04:04
77 Jasper Phlipsen (Bel) UAE Team Emirates
78 Lachlan Morton (Aus) EF Education First Pro Cycling
79 Joey Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team
80 Maarten Wynants (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma
81 Michael Hepburn (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
82 Alex Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
83 Ivo Oliveira (Por) UAE Team Emirates
84 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal
85 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky
86 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team
87 Yevgeniy Gidich (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:04:34
88 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
89 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin
90 Koen de Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
91 Michael Potter (Aus) UniSA-Australia
92 Rory Sutherland (Aus) UAE Team Emirates
93 Ayden Toovey (Aus) UniSA-Australia
94 Jaime Castrillo (Spa) Movistar Team
95 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data
96 Adam Blythe (GBr) Lotto Soudal 0:05:36
97 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky
98 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
99 William Clarke (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
100 Gediminas Bagdonas (Ltu) AG2R La Mondiale 0:05:40
101 Jason Lea (Aus) UniSA-Australia
102 Luke Durbridge (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:06:07
103 Mitchell Docker (Aus) EF Education First Pro Cycling
104 Thomas Scully (NZl) EF Education First Pro Cycling
105 Marco Haller (Aut) Katusha-Alpecin
106 Francisco Ventoso (Spa) CCC Team
107 Neil Van der Ploeg (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:06:41
108 Max Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb
109 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky 0:06:55
110 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Bahrain-Merida
111 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Team Sky
112 Jens Debesschere (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
113 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin
114 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain-Merida
115 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:06:59
116 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
117 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
118 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
119 Mikkel Honoré (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:07:38
120 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Deceuninck – QuickStep
121 Michael Morkov (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
122 Elia Viviani (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
123 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
124 Jakub Mareczko (Ita) CCC Team
125 Nico Denz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:08:18
126 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
127 Nans Peter (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
128 Daniel McClay (GBr) EF Education First Pro Cycling
129 Lukas Postlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
130 Danil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:08:47
131 Michael Sajnok (Pol) CCC Team
132 Roger Kluge (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:08:49

General Classification after Stage 4 :
1 Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team 13:23:30
2 Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:07
3 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:00:11
4 Chris Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:00:21
5 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) Dimension Data
6 Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
7 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma
8 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
9 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
10 Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First Pro Cycling
11 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky
12 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
13 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Sky
14 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
15 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
16 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb
17 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
18 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
19 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:28
20 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:39
21 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:42
22 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
23 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data
24 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data
25 Gregor Muhlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
26 Herman Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:47
27 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:00:48
28 Lluís Mas (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:49
29 Eduard Prades (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:53
30 Dimitrii Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
31 Michael Valgren (Den) Dimension Data
32 Chris Harper (Aus) UniSA-Australia
33 Steve Morabito (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
34 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal
35 Dylan Sunderland (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:01:00
36 Remi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
37 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:10
38 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:01:17
39 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:26
40 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:36
41 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:01:46
42 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:02:00
43 Lars Bak (Den) Dimension Data 0:02:16
44 Héctor Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:22
45 Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ 0:02:30
46 Rafael Valls (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:49
47 Yukiya Arashiro (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:03:21
48 James Whelan (Aus) EF Education First Pro Cycling 0:03:40
49 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida 0:03:55
50 Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:04:05
51 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Team Sky 0:04:27
52 Sven Erik Bystrom (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:05:01
53 Ayden Toovey (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:05:36
54 Joey Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team 0:05:50
55 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data 0:05:51
56 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) Trek-Segafredo 0:05:53
57 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team 0:05:55
58 Marco Haller (Aut) Katusha-Alpecin 0:06:28
59 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:06:29
60 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal 0:06:33
61 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:06:43
62 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:07:07
63 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:07:20
64 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:07:23
65 Yevgeniy Gidich (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:08:10
66 Ryan Mullen (Ire) Trek-Segafredo 0:08:23
67 Alex Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:08:32
68 Michael Hepburn (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
69 Nick White (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:08:34
70 Mat Hayman (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:09:07
71 Tom Leezer (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:09:20
72 Lachlan Morton (Aus) EF Education First Pro Cycling 0:10:02
73 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain-Merida 0:10:31
74 Jasper Phlipsen (Bel) UAE Team Emirates 0:11:31
75 Rubén Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team 0:11:47
76 Luke Durbridge (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:11:51
77 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) EF Education First Pro Cycling 0:12:09
78 Danil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:12:23
79 Thomas Scully (NZl) EF Education First Pro Cycling 0:12:27
80 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky 0:12:40
81 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:12:43
82 Mitchell Docker (Aus) EF Education First Pro Cycling 0:12:52
83 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:13:20
84 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
85 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
86 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Deceuninck – QuickStep 0:13:22
87 Victor De La Parte (Spa) CCC Team 0:13:52
88 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:13:56
89 Jason Lea (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:14:11
90 Clement Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:14:16
91 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal
92 Rory Sutherland (Aus) UAE Team Emirates 0:15:01
93 Davide Ballerini (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:15:44
94 Leo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:16:00
95 Daniel Hoelgaard (Nor) Groupama-FDJ 0:16:01
96 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky 0:16:03
97 Nic Dlamini (RSA) Dimension Data 0:16:14
98 Jaime Castrillo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:16:18
99 Michael Potter (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:16:34
100 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:16:49
101 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team 0:16:55
102 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Team
103 Ivo Oliveira (Por) UAE Team Emirates
104 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:17:19
105 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky 0:17:22
106 Koen de Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:17:25
107 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
108 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin
109 Maarten Wynants (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:18:11
110 William Clarke (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 0:18:27
111 Nans Peter (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:18:45
112 Adam Blythe (GBr) Lotto Soudal 0:18:57
113 Francisco Ventoso (Spa) CCC Team 0:18:58
114 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:19:02
115 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Team Sky 0:19:44
116 Jens Debesschere (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin 0:19:46
117 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Bahrain-Merida 0:20:10
118 Elia Viviani (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:20:13
119 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:20:22
120 Max Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:20:24
121 Michael Morkov (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:20:29
122 Neil Van der Ploeg (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:20:30
123 Nico Denz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:21:07
124 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:21:09
125 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:21:12
126 Jakub Mareczko (Ita) CCC Team 0:21:23
127 Mikkel Honoré (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:21:27
128 Roger Kluge (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:21:40
129 Lukas Postlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:22:05
130 Daniel McClay (GBr) EF Education First Pro Cycling 0:22:07
131 Gediminas Bagdonas (Ltu) AG2R La Mondiale 0:22:24
132 Michael Sajnok (Pol) CCC Team 0:29:42