Tour Down Under: Peter Sagan wins in Uraidla

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As expected, the Santos Tour Down Under received a veritable shake-up on stage 4 between Norwood and Uraidla on Friday, with world champion Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) taking the stage victory in a group sprint, and with it the overall lead in the race.

However, popular winner Sagan will now have to prove his mettle on Saturday's fifth stage, which includes two ascents of Willunga Hill. Although the likes of defending TDU champion Richie Porte, BMC team-mate Rohan Dennis and Mitchelton-Scott's Daryl Impey - second on the stage to Sagan - were in the mix at the finish of stage 4, Sagan proved that he wanted it most, biding his time with a measured ride to the top of the 6km-long, 5% average-grade climb of Norton Summit, 7km from the finish, before first attacking and then, finally, unleashing his sprint.

Sagan's Bora-Hansgrohe team-mate Jay McCarthy would have been the more obvious choice for the stage victory on Friday's stage, and it looked earlier on as though Sagan would play a helper role for him.

McCarthy nevertheless remains third overall, nine seconds behind Sagan, with the Bora Hansgrohe team-mates sandwiching Daryl Impey, who is only two seconds down on Sagan.

'Man of the match', however, has to go to UniSA-Australia's Zak Dempster, who spent all day until the base of Norton Summit at the head of the race, first with team-mate Alex Porter - until the heat and pace proved too much, and Porter dropped off with 45km to go - and then alone until just under 20km to go.

That was the cue for the big-name contenders to take over, and although Porte and Lotto-Jumbo's George Bennett gave it a good crack, at the front of a 30-strong group that made it over the top of the climb, it was Sagan who had kept his powder dry the longest, first attacking inside the final 4km on a downhill section, and then having enough left to overhaul Impey, who had opened the final sprint.

It was Sagan's first stage win at the Tour Down Under. "It's very nice," he agreed at the finish. "I won the criterium already [Sunday's People's Choice Classic], but every day here on the race it's been a different winner, which is great for the race.

"But we all know why we're here," he continued, referring to McCarthy. "For Jay, it's a big race at home, and we know that tomorrow is going to be a much harder race than today.

"Tomorrow is going to be a different story!" he grinned, seemingly conceding that McCarthy may yet still be Bora-Hansgrohe's best bet for the overall victory in Adelaide on Sunday.

Believe it when you see it. Sagan has proven once again that he's capable of almost anything.

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