While it wasn’t the big ‘Queen Stage’ that was expected due to the danger of fire and heat, stage 4 of the Tour Down Under was a cracker of a stage with the sprinters getting an unexpected third shot at glory with Ethan Vernon (NSN) putting in an explosive acceleration to take the win.
It looked like Decathlon CMA CGM did the perfect leadout yet again, but they actually had too many riders and Tobias Lund Andresen got boxed in but still managed to sprint for second place with a solid third for Laurence Pithie (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).
Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) retained the ochre leader’s jersey, but his teammate Jhonatan Narváez, second overall, was forced to abandon after a heavy crash within the opening 10 kilometres of the stage.
“Considering this stage wasn’t meant to be 24 hours ago, and we lost Corbin Strong and Jake Stewart we did a great job. We watched this finish from previous men’s and women’s races,” Vernon said.
“The wind caused a lot of stress and the crash. Everyone was wary of the wind but nothing came of it. And we didn’t even try the second time.”
Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM) is secure in the blue sprint jersey and, the same for Martin Urianstad (Uno-X Mobility) in the mountains jersey. Andrea Raccagni Noviero received a full team leadout from Soudal-QuickStep, to nab three seconds time bonus on the second intermediate sprint and takes over the white young rider’s jersey.
Sunday’s stage is the fifth and final stage on day six featuring eight brutal laps around Stirling covering 169.8km. With today’s stage being changed, this final day will be the main GC day of the race after the Uraidla stage a few days ago.
How it unfolded
The penultimate stage of the Tour Down Under saw a big alteration to the route due to extreme heat and very high risk of bushfires. The stage, which was originally meant to be 176km and feature three ascents of the famous Willunga Hill, was reduced to 130.8km starting in Brighton and finishing in Willunga Township with no ascents of Willunga Hill at all. The finish was the same as the women’s race on stage one earlier this month.
It was a hot start to the day in Brighton with the temperatures…
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