Stephen Williams sealed title victory at the men’s Tour Down Under on Sunday with a stage win at Mount Lofty that he described as a team triumph.
The Israel–Premier Tech puncheur is softly spoken but the instructions that sports directors Sam Bewley and Daryl Impey delivered via race radio inside the last decisive 2km of the 128.2km hilly route were not.
“I think he’s probably deaf after the last k, I’ve already lost my voice and it’s only been about five minutes since we crossed the line,” Bewley said at the finish.
It turns out Williams didn’t register the words of encouragement – something teammate George Bennett earlier in the week said made him “chicken skin motivated” – as he positioned himself for the stage and race title win.
“I actually didn’t hear Sam in the last kilometre, there was so much to concentrate on,” Williams said.
“To have Sam and Daryl in the car, two people who have seen the sport inside and out – Daryl obviously a multiple winner of this race – to have guys like that in the car to keep you calm and give you the confidence and leadership role is really a privilege.”
The self-described puncheur was one of five riders that emerged after an earlier breakaway was caught on the third and final ascent of Mount Lofty
Williams responded to attacks from Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ) and Isaac Del Toro (UAE Emirates) before accelerating to pip Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers) to line honours.
“It’s a perfect finish for me, so to come in a small select group like that I would always back myself going to the line in a sprint,” Williams said.
The 27-year-old is not a newcomer to the sport, having spent four, injury interrupted seasons at incarnations of Bahrain Victorious before signing with Israel-Premier Tech last year. The result is the biggest of his career to date though, and something Bewley put down to confidence.
“I think the number one thing is just his confidence. When he’s confident, when he believes in himself, he can do things like this. He doesn’t always believe in himself, but he should because he’s a bloody champion,” Bewley said.
The entire Israel-Premier Tech celebrated the result, hugging once riders got back to the teams’ paddock.
Margins, ambitions and improvement
Williams had entered the stage on the same time as Oscar Onley (dsm-firmenich PostNL) and with only five seconds separating him and Narvaez on the general classification.
Bewley said he and…
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