Tour Down Under 2020 – Stage 6 [LAST 25 KM]

January 26, 2020

Tour Down Under 2020 – Stage 6 – McLaren Vale – Willunga Hill : 151,5 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.

Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) took his second crown on Sunday at the top of Willunga Hill at the end of a stage marked by a tense showdown with a large breakaway that stayed away late into the final climb.

British rider was the only breakaway rider Porte couldn’t drop when the Australian attacked from the field the second time up Willunga Hill, and the rider was able to out-kick Porte ahead of the line to take his first-ever professional win in what was his first WorldTour race.

Overnight leader couldn’t hold Porte’s pace on the final climb and lost more than 30 seconds, ending his hopes for a third-consecutive victory.

Porte had hoped to add a seventh consecutive win on Willunga Hill, dating back to 2014, but Holmes proved just a bit quicker in the finale after Porte failed to dislodge him with an attack that did unstick Holmes’ fellow breakaway survivor Michael Storer (Team Sunweb). Holmes clung to Porte’s wheel over the hardest section of the climb, and then attacked through the final corner to take the win, while Porte celebrated his overall victory when he crossed the line three seconds later – his second title after also taking the GC in 2017 – while Astana’s Manuele Boaro was third across the line.

In a post-race interview, Porte acknowledged the pressure that the breakaway had put on him and his team at the end of the race.

“AG2R came in to help us,” Porte said of the French team that had hoped to set up Roman Bardet for the stage win, while the Mitchelton-Scott team of Impey chose to keep their powder dry.

“I mean, I understand why Mitchelton played their tactics, and credit to them because they’ve been awesome all week, but I think my today were absolutely fantastic,” Porte said.

Holmes, the 26-year-old Briton who is on his first year with Lotto Soudal after riding with Madison Genesis since 2014, appeared oddly underwhelmed by his first pro win.

“I wasn’t really thinking about the gap,” he said of the late moments of the race when the peloton was approaching. “I was just thinking about the group I was with, and I thought there was no way I would win from that situation; it was such a good group.

“I’ve never really raced up a climb. I’ve been stuck in Britain for the last six years, which is not a bad thing. This is my second hilltop finish this week, and it seems to suit me.”

How it unfolded

The 151.5km final stage from McLaren Vale to Willunga Hill consisted of three loops on a larger circuit that took the peloton briefly along the ocean and its beaches before turning inland back toward Willunga and a shorter circuit that included two trips up the famous climb, where the race ended.

Attacks started immediately aftr the neutral flag dropped, and after a few starts and fits, a 26-rider breakaway formed that would animate the day.

In the group were eventual stage winner Matt Holmes and his Lotto Soudal teammate Jon Dibben, Kiel Reijnen (Trek-Segafredo), Mathias Le Turnier and Kenneth Van Bilsen (Cofidis), Shane Archbold and Iljo Keisse (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Luke Rowe (Team Ineos), Joey Rosskopf (CCC Team), Andre Greipel and Rick Zabel (Israel Start-Up Nation), Cesare Benedetti (Bora-Hansgrohe), Vegard Stake Laengen and Marco Marcato (UAE Team Emirates), Manuele Boaro (Astana), Michael Storer (Team Sunweb), Bruno Armirail (Groupama-FDJ), Juri Hollmann (Movistar), Dylan Sunderland (NTT Pro Cycling), Bert-Jan Lindeman (Jumbo-Visma), Domen Novak and Marco Haller (Bahrain McLaren), Mitch Docker and Jonas Rutsch (EF Pro Cycling), and Sam Welsford and Cameron Scott (UniSA).

The escapees’ gap shot up to 4:30, and the chase for the day was on. The large group up front allowed some teammates to work and others to sit on, and Holmes benefited from having Dibben taking pulls and keeping the rest of the riders in the break happy.

Greipel flexed his sprinting muscles at the first intermediate sprint with 88km to go, easily beating Marco Marcato (UAE Team Emirates). At sprint 2 with 48km to go, UniSA’s Sam Welsford took out the top prize ahead of Armirail and Zabel.

But the biggest prizes of the day waioted at Willunga Hill, where Rosskopf was hoping to his mountains classification jersey by taking top points.

The KOM came with 22.4km to go, but Rosskopf didn’t wait around to leave anything to chance. He lit out early in the climb and almost immediately cut the group in half. As others faded back toward the peloton, the smaller lead group pressed on. Among the riders still there were Mitch Docker, Jonas Rutsch, Luke Rowe, Matthew Holmes, Joey Rosskopf, Michael Storer, Dylan Sunderland, Vegard Stake Laengen, Marco Marcato, Bruno Armirail and Manuele Boaro.

The leaders made it around to the bottom of the final climb with two minutes in hand, and it was enough for some but not for others.

Luke Rowe attacked the lead group with Jonas Rutsch, and then Rutsch countered and dropped Rowe as the others struggled to stay on terms with the increasingly frantic attacks.

Back in the peloton, Impey and Porte marked each other initially, but it became clear early that Impey didn’t have it in his legs on this day to challenge. He faded back in the group as Porte pressed on and set the tempo for the GC riders, eventually attacking and going after the remnants of the breakaway ahead.

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

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