Michael Woods climbed into the Tour Down Under top-10 and Jhonatan Narváez won Saturday’s Willunga queen stage, ripping the ochre leader’s jersey from Javier Romo of Movistar. It was Narváez’s first win for new team UAE-Emirates. Woods was sixth on the penultimate stage.
The Situation Before Saturday
Sam Welsford emerged triumphant in the first two stages and wore the leader’s jersey into Stage 3 where Romo won from a late attack and took over the lead. Stage 4 saw Bryan Coquard surf wheels to the victory. Romo kept the lead, four seconds clear of Narváez and 35 seconds ahead of Woods in 26th.
The Course
The riders had an early ascent of Wickam Hill and then a drop down Willunga before a long flat section. Willunga (3.3 km of 7.3 percent) returned as a climb at the 120-km mark and then again for the summit finish 23 km later.
A ample handful of riders galloped away on Wickam and lost numbers until a quartet was left out baking in the sun. By the foot of Wallunga I, the escape was within hailing distance, the purple of Jayco-AlUla, the pink of EF Education and the grey of Alpecin-Deceuninck prominent at the business end of the peloton.
Two Jayco chaps, Chris Harper and Mauro Schmid, attacked, crested together and rolled the plateau ahead of a disorganized chase. The duo was swept up by a flare-out from the peloton with 5.7 km to go. Woods was one of the dozen riders about to hit the final climb of Willunga first.
Romo attacked early. With a kilometre to go Luke Plapp, Narváez and Oscar Onley reached him. At 200 metres to go, as Woods and others closed in, Narváez made a strong thrust and stayed clear past the line. The Ecuadorian wore the first pink in last year’s Giro d’Italia after winning the opening stage.
2025 Tour Down Under, Stage 5
1) Jhonatan Narváez (Ecuador/UAE-Emirates) 3:17:02
2) Oscar Onley (Great Britain/Picnic-PostNL) s.t.
3) Finn Fisher-Black (New Zealand/Bora-Hansgrohe) s.t.
6) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +0:06
2025 Tour Down Under, GC
1) Jhonatan Narváez (Ecuador/UAE-Emirates) 3:17:02
2) Javier Romo (Spain/Movistar) +0:09
3) Finn Fisher-Black (New Zealand/Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:12
10) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +0:47
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