Tour Down Under 2020 – Stage 5 [FULL STAGE]

January 25, 2020

Tour Down Under 2020 – Stage 5 – Glenelg – Victor Harbor : 149,1 km

The 2020 Tour Down Under peloton boasts five past overall winners in Porte, Impey, Dennis, André Greipel (Israel Start-Up Nation) and Astana’s Luis Leon Sanchez. While new Team Ineos signing Dennis has recently announced that his days of targeting the GC at Grand Tours are likely over, the South Australian local still has what it takes to conquer the finish at Paracombe on stage 3 – as he did in 2015, en route to the overall victory – and then to hold his own on the final stage to Wilunga Hill if he’s in a winning position. Porte will come to Adelaide again hoping to repeat his 2017 victory, and while Mitchelton-Scott is the team most likely to stand in his way with defending champion Impey and 2018 Vuelta a España winner Yates, AG2R’s climber extraordinaire, Bardet, may also find his early-season legs on the climbs and find himself in a position to battle for the overall classification. His rivals see his announced low expectations as a final warning rather than a true indiction of the Frenchman’s form.

Giacomo Nizzolo (NTT Pro Cycling) took out the bunch sprint victory during stage 5 of the Tour Down Under on Saturday, but it was Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) who grabbed the top prize of the ochre leader’s jersey after the 2019 champion finished second and first at the day’s two intermediate sprints and collected enough time bonuses to jump ahead of overnight race leader Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) by two seconds.

Nizzolo scored the first win for his newly branded NTT team by relying on his teammates to both bring him back after a late climb and then drop him off in the perfect position in Victor Harbor to charge up the right-hand side of the road and easily hold of all challengers.

Nizzolo’s fellow Italian, Simone Consonni (Cofidis), was second, followed by stage 1 winner Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Bennett’s lead-out man Michael Mørkøv. Sprint classification leader Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates) was fifth.

“I can’t thank my teammates enough. They did a great, great job,” Nizzolo said in Victor Harbor. “That was the plan, that if I was a bit off they would come back and wait for me on the climb. They did it perfectly, and then they did a perfect lead-out as well. I was in the perfect place, and then I just put everything I had through the pedals. It worked in the end, so I’m so happy.”

Impey now leads Porte in the general classification by two seconds, with Rob Power (Team Sunweb) in third at nine seconds. Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) is fourth at 13 seconds, and George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma) remains in fifth place at 16 seconds back.

How it unfolded

The 149.km fifth stage from Glenelg to Victor Harbor is similar to other routes that have been used at the Tour Down Under, with a final climb 20km from the finish making it a difficult-but-doable duty for the sprinters.

With the important time bonuses once again in play early, Impey’s team drilled back anyone who tried to go up the road save for one lone Frenchman, Axel Domont of AG2R La Mondiale, who Mitchelton-Scott pulled back with plenty of time for the teams to line up for the first sprint at 33.9km.

Mads Pedersen played the perfect teammate for Porte and took the top bonus there, pushing Impey into second and a two-second bonus. But that was good enough for the Mitchelton rider to pull within one second of Porte.

Mitchelton-Scott then went to work again keeping things welded together to give Impey another shot at the second intermediate sprint, which came at 56km in the town of Meadows. This time the versatile South African beat sprint classification leader Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates) into second to take the three-second bonus and move two seconds ahead of Porte, whose teammate Pedersen got third.

From there the only plumb to be picked on the stage, aside from the finish, was the single KOM on Kerby Hill up Crow’s Nest Road in Port Elliot. The 2.9km category 2 climb averaged a 5.9% gradient, and Mitchelton-Scott also had plans for that section.

Before the race could get there, however, a breakaway of four riders formed that included Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), Josef Cerny (CCC Team), Ian Stannard (Team Ineos) and Ide Schelling (Bora-Hansgrohe).

Cerny started the day 1:59 off the overall lead and was quickly virtual leader on the road as the quartet’s advantage went up to over two minutes. That was about as much as the peloton was willing to give the escapees, however, and their advantage languished there for some time. As the KOM approached, the gap started to come down precipitously.

Indeed, with teams fighting for position ahead the climb, the accelerations brought the leaders back at the bottom of the climb and the general classification fireworks started to ignite from there.

Astana came forward, and, along with MItchelton-Scott, set a pace that started to dismantle the field. Mitchelton had hoped to shed the fastmen so that Impey could have a chance at the stage win and collect another 10-second bonus, giving him a larger cushion over Porte before Sunday’s final stage and its Willunga Hill summit finish. Mitchelton-Scott’s plan almost worked.

As the field began to splinter and sprinters began to shed out the back at the hands of Mitchelton’s pace, a select group of GC riders started to form at the front. Impey, Porte, Power, Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma) and Rohan Dennis (Team Ineos) were all there.

With Porte sitting on, Impey and several riders pressed the pace and tried to prevent the sprinters from coming back in the chase group that had quickly formed when the chaos of the climb subsided.

The sprinters, with massive efforts from their teammates, made contact with the leaders with around six kilometres to go, and after a momentary lull in which Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) attacked, the lead-out trains started to assemble for the final rush to the line.

Results :
1 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling 3:32:45
2 Simone Consonni (Ita) Cofidis Solutions Credits
3 Sam Bennett (Irl) Deceuninck-QuickStep
4 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
5 Jasper Philipsen (Bel) UAE Team Emirates
6 André Greipel (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation
7 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) EF Pro Cycling
8 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal
9 Fabio Felline (Ita) Astana Pro Team
10 Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott
11 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) NTT Pro Cycling
12 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) EF Pro Cycling
13 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Team Ineos
14 Andrea Vendrame (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
15 Roger Kluge (Ger) Lotto Soudal
16 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain McLaren
17 Marco Marcato (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
18 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
19 Jarrad Drizners (Aus) UniSA-Australia
20 Luis León Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team
21 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
22 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Team Ineos
23 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team
24 Rob Power (Aus) Team Sunweb
25 Omar Fraile Matarranz (Spa) Astana Pro Team
26 Neilson Powless (USA) EF Pro Cycling
27 Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
28 Luka Pibernik (Slo) Bahrain McLaren
29 Simon Geschke (Ger) CCC Team
30 Danilo Wyss (Swi) NTT Pro Cycling
31 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Ineos
32 Luis Mas (Spa) Movistar Team
33 Nathan Haas (Aus) Cofidis Solutions Credits
34 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
35 Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
36 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Trek-Segafredo
37 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma
38 Santiago Buitrago Sanchez (Col) Bahrain McLaren
39 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
40 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott
41 Stefan De Bod (RSA) NTT Pro Cycling
42 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain McLaren
43 Chris Harper (Aus) Team Jumbo-Visma
44 Omer Goldstein (Isr) Israel Start-Up Nation
45 Lawrence Warbasse (USA) AG2R La Mondiale
46 Clément Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
47 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
48 Florian Stork (Ger) Team Sunweb
49 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
50 James Piccoli (Can) Israel Start-Up Nation
51 Jay Mc Carthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
52 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb
53 Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
54 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
55 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
56 Rasmus Fossum Tiller (Nor) NTT Pro Cycling 0:00:18
57 Samuele Battistella (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling 0:00:21
58 João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:01:05
59 Luke Durbridge (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:14
60 Juri Hollmann (Ger) Movistar Team 0:02:02
61 Sergio Samitier Samitier (Spa) Movistar Team
62 Michel Ries (Lux) Trek-Segafredo
63 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale
64 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Israel Start-Up Nation
65 Rick Zabel (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation
66 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) CCC Team
67 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal
68 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Movistar Team
69 Eduard Prades Reverter (Spa) Movistar Team
70 Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ
71 Fabian Lienhard (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
72 Mikkel Bjerg (Den) UAE Team Emirates
73 Tosh Van der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal
74 Matthew Holmes (GBr) Lotto Soudal
75 Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
76 Timo Roosen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
77 Christopher Lawless (GBr) Team Ineos
78 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
79 Jonas Rutsch (Ger) EF Pro Cycling
80 Juan Pedro Lopez Perez (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
81 Jorge Arcas (Spa) Movistar Team
82 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Ineos 0:03:16
83 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb
84 Kenneth Vanbilsen (Bel) Cofidis Solutions Credits 0:03:33
85 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Cofidis Solutions Credits
86 Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis Solutions Credits
87 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Astana Pro Team
88 Max Kanter (Ger) Team Sunweb
89 Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Lotto Soudal
90 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
91 Marco Haller (Aut) Bahrain McLaren
92 Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis Solutions Credits
93 Francisco Ventoso (Spa) CCC Team
94 Lachlan Morton (Aus) EF Pro Cycling
95 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
96 Erik Baska (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
97 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
98 Dylan Sunderland (Aus) NTT Pro Cycling
99 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
100 Guillaume Boivin (Can) Israel Start-Up Nation
101 Tom Scully (NZl) EF Pro Cycling
102 Shane Archbold (NZl) Deceuninck-QuickStep
103 Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
104 Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bel) CCC Team 0:06:38
105 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Ineos
106 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Ineos
107 Gabriel Cullaigh (GBr) Movistar Team
108 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal
109 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
110 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
111 Alberto Dainese (Ita) Team Sunweb
112 Martin Laas (Est) Bora-Hansgrohe
113 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
114 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
115 Josef Cerny (Cze) CCC Team
116 Taco Van der Hoorn (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:09:49
117 Mitchell Docker (Aus) EF Pro Cycling
118 Mickael Delage (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
119 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain McLaren
120 Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Groupama-FDJ
121 Nicholas White (Aus) UniSA-Australia
122 Sam Welsford (Aus) UniSA-Australia
123 Ide Schelling (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe
124 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
125 Cameron Scott (Aus) UniSA-Australia
126 Samuel Jenner (Aus) UniSA-Australia
127 Koen De Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:12:50
128 Jack Bauer (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
129 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
130 Asbjørn Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb
131 Marco Mathis (Ger) Cofidis Solutions Credits
132 Michael Hepburn (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
133 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
DNS Szymon Sajnok (Pol) CCC Team
DNS Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team

General Classification after Stage 5 :
1 Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott 17:12:15
2 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:02
3 Rob Power (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:00:09
4 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:13
5 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:16
6 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:17
7 Simon Geschke (Ger) CCC Team
8 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Team Ineos
9 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Team Ineos
10 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:25
11 Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:27
12 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
13 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain McLaren
14 Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
15 Nathan Haas (Aus) Cofidis Solutions Credits 0:00:30
16 Neilson Powless (USA) EF Pro Cycling 0:00:35
17 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Ineos
18 Santiago Buitrago Sanchez (Col) Bahrain McLaren
19 Chris Harper (Aus) Team Jumbo-Visma
20 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb
21 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
22 Luis León Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:00:39
23 Omar Fraile Matarranz (Spa) Astana Pro Team
24 Jarrad Drizners (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:00:43
25 Andrea Vendrame (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:46
26 Fabio Felline (Ita) Astana Pro Team
27 Luis Mas (Spa) Movistar Team
28 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain McLaren
29 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) NTT Pro Cycling
30 Clément Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
31 Florian Stork (Ger) Team Sunweb
32 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team 0:00:58
33 James Piccoli (Can) Israel Start-Up Nation
34 Danilo Wyss (Swi) NTT Pro Cycling 0:01:10
35 André Greipel (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:01:22
36 Marco Marcato (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:39
37 Lawrence Warbasse (USA) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:01
38 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:02:11
39 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
40 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:18
41 Eduard Prades Reverter (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:29
42 Luka Pibernik (Slo) Bahrain McLaren 0:02:31
43 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
44 Jasper Philipsen (Bel) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:34
45 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) EF Pro Cycling 0:02:42
46 Matthew Holmes (GBr) Lotto Soudal 0:02:48
47 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:50
48 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) CCC Team 0:03:04
49 Rick Zabel (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation
50 Jorge Arcas (Spa) Movistar Team 0:03:08
51 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Movistar Team 0:03:35
52 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:03:59
53 Timo Roosen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:04:33
54 Juan Pedro Lopez Perez (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:04:35
55 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:04:41
56 Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ 0:04:42
57 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) EF Pro Cycling 0:04:45
58 Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:04:52
59 Juri Hollmann (Ger) Movistar Team 0:04:55
60 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:05:11
61 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
62 Sam Bennett (Irl) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:05:18
63 Stefan De Bod (RSA) NTT Pro Cycling 0:05:25
64 Tosh Van der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:05:48
65 Samuele Battistella (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling 0:06:21
66 Rasmus Fossum Tiller (Nor) NTT Pro Cycling
67 Roger Kluge (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:06:47
68 Simone Consonni (Ita) Cofidis Solutions Credits 0:06:55
69 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:07:07
70 Fabian Lienhard (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:07:32
71 Francisco Ventoso (Spa) CCC Team 0:07:55
72 Marco Haller (Aut) Bahrain McLaren 0:08:22
73 Max Kanter (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:08:35
74 Josef Cerny (Cze) CCC Team 0:08:39
75 Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:08:40
76 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale
77 Sergio Samitier Samitier (Spa) Movistar Team 0:09:03
78 Luke Durbridge (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:09:16
79 João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:09:41
80 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling 0:10:14
81 Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:10:15
82 Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis Solutions Credits 0:10:19
83 Dylan Sunderland (Aus) NTT Pro Cycling 0:10:26
84 Gabriel Cullaigh (GBr) Movistar Team 0:10:49
85 Mikkel Bjerg (Den) UAE Team Emirates 0:10:59
86 Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis Solutions Credits 0:11:01
87 Omer Goldstein (Isr) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:11:53
88 Jonas Rutsch (Ger) EF Pro Cycling 0:11:59
89 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:12:02
90 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:12:19
91 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:12:21
92 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Ineos 0:13:01
93 Shane Archbold (NZl) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:13:12
94 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:13:49
95 Jay Mc Carthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:13:50
96 Christopher Lawless (GBr) Team Ineos 0:14:48
97 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:14:52
98 Kenneth Vanbilsen (Bel) Cofidis Solutions Credits 0:15:21
99 Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bel) CCC Team 0:15:37
100 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:15:47
101 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:16:14
102 Michael Hepburn (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:16:28
103 Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Lotto Soudal 0:16:51
104 Alberto Dainese (Ita) Team Sunweb 0:16:53
105 Michel Ries (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 0:17:07
106 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Ineos 0:17:17
107 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:17:30
108 Samuel Jenner (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:18:04
109 Guillaume Boivin (Can) Israel Start-Up Nation 0:18:17
110 Tom Scully (NZl) EF Pro Cycling 0:18:24
111 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:18:36
112 Martin Laas (Est) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:18:49
113 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:19:40
114 Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Groupama-FDJ 0:20:05
115 Ide Schelling (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:20:42
116 Cameron Scott (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:20:45
117 Sam Welsford (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:21:09
118 Taco Van der Hoorn (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:21:13
119 Lachlan Morton (Aus) EF Pro Cycling 0:21:19
120 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Ineos 0:21:32
121 Koen De Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:21:56
122 Erik Baska (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:22:34
123 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain McLaren 0:22:53
124 Jack Bauer (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott 0:23:16
125 Nicholas White (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:23:48
126 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Cofidis Solutions Credits 0:24:21
127 Asbjørn Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 0:25:36
128 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:26:12
129 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:27:21
130 Marco Mathis (Ger) Cofidis Solutions Credits 0:28:04
131 Mitchell Docker (Aus) EF Pro Cycling 0:31:23
132 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:32:10
133 Mickael Delage (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:33:28