The final chapter of this year’s Tour Down Under took the race right into the heart of
Adelaide, with a technical 4.5km circuit which the riders would tackle 20 times.
After yesterday’s decisive stage, it would take a truly bizarre situation to stop Richie
Porte from winning his first Tour Down Under, but today was far from a dead rubber, with
several items of unfinished business.
2 intermediate sprints available at the end of laps 8 and 12, as well as a handful of
King of the Mountains points on 10th and 15th time up the short but punchy Montefiore Hill.
The 3 second time bonuses available at those intermediate sprints would be of great interest
to some of the GC leaders, and an early move featuring Thomas De Gendt and Gianluca Brambilla
was reeled in at the start of the all-important 8th lap.
Bora-Hansgrohe were pulling out all the stops to help Jay McCarthy, who was sitting just
3 seconds off a podium spot in 4th. McCarthy had the luxury of counting on a leadout from
World Champion Peter Sagan and held off Caleb Ewan for those 3 crucial bonus seconds, enough
to leapfrog him above Nathan Haas onto the GC podium in the process.
Lotto Soudal soon countered once again with De Gendt, who was finally able to pick up
3 king of the mountains points on lap 10 to secure his overall lead in that competition.
2 laps later and best young rider in the race Jhonathan Restrepo earned 3 bonus seconds
and jumped from 12th to 10th in the overall standings with this sprint before dropping
back, leaving 5 riders at the head of the race, including the familiar face of Jack
Bauer, in the process of earning the award for most aggressive rider for the 3rd day
in a row.
But not even Bauer could spoil the sprinters' day - he was caught on circuit 19 out of 20.
Just enough time to get ready for one more bunch gallop.
Peter Sagan, now taking on the role of lead sprinter, was being lead out by Rudi Selig.
However, Ewan had managed to hijack his sprint train and was on the German’s wheel.
When Selig drifted aside, it was all about pure power in the drag to the line.
Sagan shadowed but couldn’t catch the Aussie as he celebrated a quartet of wins in a week
that exceeded even his lofty expectations.
CALEB EWAN: Yeah I can’t really believe it.
Coming into this tour I actually joked with my girlfriend that I would win 4 stages and
I can’t believe I have with the calibre of sprinters here.
Was always going to be hard to beat Peter Sagan even if he is not in his best form he is
still the best rider in the world at the moment so I am so happy with the performances that I have had.
Richie Porte and rolled home safely in 48th, clinching his first Tour Down Under title
in the process.
A great start to the year, and a chance to put the disappointments of 2016 well and truly
behind him.
RICHIE PORTE: Yeah I mean after crashing in Rio and injuring myself quite nasty in a nasty crash.
It wasn’t too hard to be motivated for this race. I had a good break at the end of last season.
I have come back refreshed physically and mentally and to win this race means a hell
of a lot and you know it's a credit to this race just how big it is.
Here’s a look at the final GC standings.
Jay McCarthy used some guile and determination to wrestle a final spot on the podium from
Nathan Haas, while Jhonathan Restrepo also jumps up a couple of places thanks to time
bonuses earned today.
Caleb Ewan took the points classification in addition to his 4 stage wins, a great week for him.
Thomas De Gendt fought harder than most to earn his king of the mountains jersey.
Jhonathan Restrepo was the best young rider after an impressive display on Willunga Hill,
and the UNI-SA team, the only wildcard team in the race, duly delivered on their target
of winning the teams classification.
So there you have it, the first WorldTour race of the season in the books.
Can Richie Porte and Caleb Ewan build on their early season form for Grand Tour glory later
in the year?
Leave us a comment down below for your thoughts on this year’s Tour Down Under.
We hope to bring you more race reports very soon, so subscribe to GCN
to ensure you don’t miss them.
If you missed any of the action this week, there’s a link to our Tour Down Under playlist
- every stage all in one place.
And our most recent pro bike is here too, Alberto Contador’s new Trek Speed Concept time trial bike.