Tour Down Under 2019 – Stage 6 [FULL STAGE]

January 20, 2019

Tour Down Under 2019 – Stage 6 – McLaren Vale – Willunga Hil : 151,5 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.

Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) claimed his sixth straight win on Willunga Hill on stage 6 of the 2019 Tour Down Under as Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) became the first rider in the race’s history to retain his crown.

Porte attacked several times on the final ascent, first to battle back and catch Wout Poels (Team Sky) and then to push clear inside the final 600 meters. Impey, just as he did in 2018, paced his effort perfectly to finish just a few bike lengths behind Porte and Poels. Overnight race leader Patrick Bevin (CCC Team) battled through the stage but was dropped on the first ascent of Willunga Hill, clearly suffering the effects of his stage 5 crash.

In the battle for the overall, Impey finished clear of Porte by 13 seconds, with Poels rounding out the podium four seconds later.

Impey came into the final stage seven seconds down on Bevin, and the favourite to retain his overall crown after the CCC rider crashed the previous day. Impey was paced up the final climb by his teammates and although he was put under pressure from Poels, Porte and Michael Woods, he battled back in the final few hundred meters as the incline eased.

“It’s a hard race for someone like me to win, with just one uphill finish but I came here with my new team and the boys were fantastic all week and today,” Porte said at the finish.

“Hats off to Daryl Impey but to win on Willunga for a sixth time is a great feeling. It’s a great way to start the year with a new team.”

As expected, the overall battle came down the final climb up Willunga Hill. With Bevin already out of contention, Team Sky set a furious pace on both ascents of the climb. On the final time up the slopes, Dylan van Baarle and Kenny Elissonde took control with the Frenchman even going clear with two kilometres to go. The move caused panic in the group of GC riders before Poels accelerated 300m later. The two Team Sky riders kept a slender lead before Sunweb took up the chase with Impey holding firm in the middle of the group.

With 1.3km to go Porte took flight. At first he was matched by several riders, including Chris Hamilton, Woods and George Bennett, but none could hold the Australian when he kicked again and made his way up to Poels, who had already used up Elissonde. Poels managed to stay on Porte’s wheel until 600m to go before the Australian accelerated once more. As a number of GC contenders began to fade, Impey came through the field, taking third on the line and punching the air as Porte celebrated a few meters ahead.

Early break as Bevin fades

The morning was dominated by news that Bevin had passed a late concussion test and could start the stage. The CCC Team rider had dominated the Tour Down Under until a crash on stage 5 saw his race almost end. However, he was on the startline on Sunday morning and was in no mood to throw in the towel. He would have wanted a calm start, but the fight for the early break ensured that the pace was high from the outset.

Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Nick White (UniSA-Australia), Alex Dowsett (Katusha Alpecin), Danny van Poppel (Jumbo-Visma), Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe), Gediminas Bagdonas (AG2R La Mondiale) and Jasha Sütterlin (Movistar) went clear and established a lead before the GC teams began to control the pace.

Bevin, bandaged but present, was in contention until the first ascent of Willunga. On the lower slopes, as the early break began to splinter, the New Zealand rider began to lose the wheels and within the space of a few hundred meters his overall challenge was over. It was a sad sight to see for a rider who had taken the race by the scruff of the neck and challenged the more established teams during the opening stages. If he had not crashed on stage 5, he would have surely been in contention for his first overall stage racing win at WorldTour level.

It was Team Sky who used the first ascent of Willunga to test the waters. They propelled Elissonde up the road before Poels joined him ahead of the summit as the last man standing from the break, White, as reeled in. By the top of the climb the Team Sky tandem had eased, well aware that a headwind and more than 20 kilometres were still ahead of them. At that point, Bevin was just over two minutes down, his only consolation the fact that if he finished the race he would receive the points jersey.

Porte’s joy of six

On the descent, Daniel Oss (Bora-Hansgrohe), Héctor Carretero (Movistar) and Tomasz Marczynski (Lotto Soudal) formed a counter attack. They were brought back inside the final 10 kilometres as Astana and Sanchez moved to the front. Impey sat in the bunch, dropped off by the retiring Mat Hayman inside the final four kilometres as Team Sky saw their opportunity.

Just as with the first ascent of Willunga Hill, they powered to the front. First Dylan van Baarle set the pace before Elissonde once again took over. Poels looked as though he was too far back, but within a matter of pedal strokes the Dutch climber was clear and seemingly on his way to a stage win and possible GC win.

At first it wasn’t clear whether Porte was struggling or playing a waiting game, but with 1.3km to go he kicked clear. As has often been the case, riders tried to match the Australian’s initial acceleration. It proved an almost worthless task, however, as he quickly ate into the lead of Poels and the fading Elissonde. The headwind, as per last year, helped Impey and the chasers but when Porte jumped free of Poels it was clear that the Trek-Segafredo rider would take the stage, his sixth straight win on Willunga Hill.

The only remaining question was whether Impey could hold on. Within seconds we had our answer as Impey swung around the final corner with a flourish of strength once again worthy of winning this race for a second straight year.

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

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