As it happened: Briton fastest on uphill sprint to win stage 4 at Tour Down Under
Extreme fire danger forces route change to 131km from Brighton to Willunga township
Welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 4, from Brighton to Willunga, of the Tour Down Under. The stage starts at 10:10am local time and finishes roughly three hours later.
Willunga Hill has been removed from stage 4 of the Santos Tour Down Under, due to the Extreme fire danger rating for the area and forecast maximum temperatures of 43°C.
In the revamped stage 4, riders will face 130.8km from Brighton to Willunga. Action begins beachside Brighton before travelling through coastal sprints at Aldinga's Snapper Point and Port Willunga, with peloton set to pass many of McLaren Vale’s best wineries along the way. Racing will finish on Willunga’s main street after a double lap.
The 136 riders are off for the 3km neutral zone. Given the new profile, this stage could be one for the sprinters again, or will the wind cause chaos?
Very nervous peloton, swarming the race director's car.
The road will immediately start to go up when the flag drops, for an uncategorized climb leading for the first KOM, cresting 13.2km into the stage.
Stage 2 winner Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) leads the general classification with six seconds on his teammate Jhonatan Narváez. Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) sits in third place, 1:05 down.
Flag drop from the race director Stuart O’Grady, and we are racing!
Matthew Greenwood is the first to attack. And KOM leader Martin Urianstad quickly jumps on his wheel.
Big reaction coming from the peloton. Everyone wants to go in the break.
Jayco is leading the chase as Urianstad, driving the move, looks behind him.
Duo is dragged back in by Guillaume Martin. All back together.
Peloton is already strung out, as more riders try to get away.
Rémi Cavagna, Greenwood and Luke Plapp are now trying to get away. Plapp goes to the front, and ups the pace.
Crash. Narvaez went down in the peloton.
Other riders are trying to get across the 20-second gap.
Another rider from Australia team is trying to bridge across as UAE, team of race leader Jay Vine, are at the front of the field.
Defending champion and second on GC going into this stage, Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) abandons after a hard crash. Best wishes.
When asked how UAE Team Emirates-XRG planned to tackle the altered stage, sports director Fabrizio Guidi told Cyclingnews: “Yeah, actually, it is kind of a defending mode. It's windy, and when it's a sprint stage, it's always difficult. Like yesterday, you saw crashes and all these things and we would always start anyway with a huge concentration.”
“We can never relax, never because everybody thinks it's easy, it's easy, but at the end of the day we need to do these 130 km and then tomorrow also, so that's not the case. We have first and second, and we know that the others are not here for fun. They want to win. It's a competition. Full respect and keep going like this.”
Break
The three riders in the break - Rémi Cavagna (Groupama-FDJ United), Matthew Greenwood (Australia), Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) - have one minute on the field with 119km to go.
Plapp calls for neutral support for a water bottle. Gap is not high enough to get team cars in the gap.
Cavagna leads the break across the top, followed by Greenwood and Plapp. No one really interested in the points.
Urianstad goes to the front of the peloton to take fourth place across the KOM line and nab a few more points.
Jayco, and Visma at the front of the peloton, keeping the three escapees at 45 seconds.
Jayco, EF Education and Bahrain at the front of the peloton, which so far has not allowed the break of 3 to really pull away. Gap at 52 seconds with 111km to go,
Riders know that the wind could be a factor as soon as they come off this descent. No one wants to be caught out if crosswinds do hit.
Plapp is dousing himself in water, supplied by the neutral service car.
Multiple teams at the front of the peloton: Jayco, EF Education, Uno-X, Visma and Bahrain with a gap of 1:44 to the 3-riders in the break with 104km to go
Greenwood struggles to grab a water bottle in the feedzone but he did manage to get one out of two.
With the gap hitting the 2-minute mark, Plapp is now the virtual leader on the road.
Peloton goes through feedzone with Visma;s Tim Rex grabbing multiple bottles.
Back in 2023, on a stage that also finished in Willunga township, Bryan Coquard sprinted to victory from a small group that formed in the crosswinds.
A few days ago, on the same finish in Willunga township, Ally Wollaston (FDJ United-Suez) sprinted to victory on stage 1 of the Women's Tour Down Under after the lone breakaway was caught with 50 metres to go.
Gap continues to go up for the three riders in the break, Cavagna, Greenwood and Plapp, now at 3L07 with 94km to go.
Three riders in the break are Rémi Cavagna (Groupama-FDJ United), Matthew Greenwood (Australia), and Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla)
The whole Ineos team is now at the front of the peloton, as UAE seems perfectly fine with the trio up the road, for now.
Let’s hear what Ethan Vernon (NSN) told Seven this morning in Brighton. His teammate Jake Stewart finished fourth on stage 4.
“I was only expecting two opportunities, so to get an extra one gave a bit of morale last night, after the stage didn't go our way, and to refocus and reset for today. So, I'm looking to make the most of today's opportunity."
Red Bull takes over the front of the peloton, and ups the pace slightly. They now have two riders at the front, as the other teams jostle for position.
NSN goes to the peloton hits the exposed roads. The acceleration has decreased the gap to 3:22.
Race leader Jay Vine is still in the peloton after that big crash. Teams involved in the crash were NSN, UAE and more.
Decathlon pushing the pace at the front, followed by Ineos and then Vine sandwiched between two UAE teammates.
Riders accelerating at the front of the peloton, as they are flying towards the windier section.
KOM #1 results
2- Rémi Cavagna (Groupama-FDJ United)
Riders using the gravel section on the left-hand side of the road to hide from the wind with 78km to go.
Peloton has split in half under pressure from the pace and the wind.
Red Bull, Ineos, Lidl and EF are at the front.
Riders are trying to use the cars to make it back to the peloton.
Ineos and Red Bull are trying to split the peloton even more.
Two riders that have abandoned following the crash are Vegard Stake Laengen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
Less impact from the wind as the route changed direction. Group is regrouping slightly.
In the break, Cavagna, Greenwood and Plapp, have 2:11 on the peloton with 72km to go.
More riders, including KOM leader Urianstad,, caught in or behind the crash, are rejoining the peloton.
Break just rode through the sharp right-hand turn and are now racing by the beach, as they approach the first intermediate sprint at Snapper Point.
Headwind for the break trio as they race along the beachfront.
Halfway through the stage, the break goes through the first intermediate sprint with 2:33 on the peloton.
Visma has taken control on the pack, as the whole team lined up at the front with one Lotto rider slotted in second wheel behind T. Rex. Tudor are lined up beside them.
Peloton is spread across the road as it raises slightly, leaving the beach.
Visma at the front once again. So far, they have not managed to provide sprinter Matthew Brennan with a perfect leadout. Will the third time be the charm? Of course, first they have to catch the break.
Nasty little kicker with a headwind as the peloton goes through the feedzone.
Liam Walsh (Australia) was caught behind the crash and called it a day.
From earlier in the stage, the peloton racing by the beach
Jake Stewart also went down in the earlier crash and was forced to abandon.
Unfortunately, Jake Stewart has been forced to abandon @tourdownunder after crashing on stage 4. He is in the ambulance en route to hospital. We will update on his condition as soon as possible.🇦🇺 #TourDownUnder #WeAreNSN pic.twitter.com/3cH6cTfC2SJanuary 24, 2026
Plapp has been pouring water over himself all day. The break now has 1:55 with 51km to go as they get support from the neutral service.
Lull before the .... wind in the peloton. Ineos, Astana and Visma all represented at the front.
Cavagna sits up, leaving Plapp and Greenwood to continue in the break.
Cavagna is back in the field, led by Oliver Bleddyn (Australia) followed by Ineos.
Tension is rising, as we are getting close to the wind section where the crash happened earlier.
Battle for positioning in the peloton, for the upcoming wind section. Race leader Vine is close to the front with at least one teammate.
Greenwood takes a long behind him as the peloton is breathing down his neck.
This time around, the wind seems to have shifted to a head-crosswind, and the peloton is not quite as chaotic as the previous lap.
The peloton doesn't want to keep the two escapees quite yet, so they are letting them dangle off the front at around 15 seconds.
Sprinters, Brennan, Welsford and Jensen Plowright are further down the peloton, seemingly unconcerned for now. They are in a deep conversation.
The peloton just swung off on Aldinga Beach, temps hitting 36 C at the moment, with the gap to the 2 escapees holding at 25 seconds with 26km to go.
Change at the front of the peloton with Soudal Quickstep taking the front. They're all in for the bonus seconds coming up in the second intermediate sprint in 1.2km.
Break is caught before the intermediate sprint in a battle for the white jersey, but EF riders are coming forwards to try and get the seconds.
Andrea Raccagni Noviero made it across the line first, to nab those three seconds. He was tied with Michael Leonard (EF Education-Easypost) on time, but second in the best young rider classification.
Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) was second across the line for the intermediate sprint with Alastair Mackellar (EF Education-Easypost) third.
Peloton is all together inside of 21km to go, as the temps hit 40 C.
UAE comes to the front to protect race leader Vine, Behind them, the Ineos team for sprinter Welsford, and Decathlon for Lund Andresen.
More teams move up to the front for their sprinters: Visma working once again for Brennan. Astana for Aaron Gate, Tudor for Maikel Zijlaard, and EF for Luke Lamperti.
Lull before the expected bunch sprint finale, as the field slows down to go through the feedzone.
Temps are 41 C at the finish with wind gusts of 35 kmph. Peloton is 13km away from the finish line on High Street in Willunga.
Picnic now move up, working for Casper van Uden as the peloton blocks the whole road.
Some riders taking a risk, using the gravel on the side of the road to try and move up.
Vine is sitting on the wheel of Molano, the UAE sprinter, near the front. Trying to stay out of trouble with 10km to go.
The left handside to right, teams at the front as EF, NSN, Astana, Picnic, Visma, Ineos, Decathlon and UAE.
Groupama is pushing its way to the front for Lewis Boyer who finished third yesterday.
Visma is in the middle, with Brennan behind the whole team lined up, pushing him back in the peloton.
Tailwind as the speeds ramp up inside of 5km to go.
Peloton is speeding, going 70kmph, on a false flat on McLaren Vale. 3km to go
Uno-X tries to take charge at the front, but other teams are fighting for position,
Elbows up for the riders in the peloton, as Visma takes over the front with 1.5km
Brennan was not on the wheel on his train, and Visma rider swings out
Decathlon takes over with Lund Andresen in 4th wheel.
But Lund Andresen gets swarmed and Ethan Vernon wins!
First win for Vernon in 10 months.
Tobias Lund Andresen was second and Laurence Pithie third in the final sprint.
Ethan Vernon (NSN) accelerates towards victory on stage 4 at Tour Down Under
Let’s hear from stage winner Ethan Vernon (NSN).
“Considering the stage wasn't going to be 24 hours ago to turn around and do that, we lost Corbin [Strong] at the start and Jake [Stewart] to a crash as well. So we were quite short, but these guys stepped up and were outrageous."
About the final kilometre: “We watched the last couple of editions, the women's in 2023, and both guys won from a jump, and I was there pretty comfy. 250 to go, so I went, I think I did the same [as previous wins], I got a gap and held it to the line. Everyone was suffering in the heat, but the boys did a really good job of keeping me cool. And I saw guys suffering, and I kept it calm because I knew I wasn't suffering with the heat. So I played the game a bit, and it paid off.”
About the wind: “Caused a lot of stress, but in the end, it didn't really split too much. Caused the crash, I'd say. But in the end, it didn't really split a bunch. In the second time through, we didn't even try to [split], everyone was wary of it, but nothing came of it.”
Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) still tops the general classification, with 1:03 on Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla), and 1:12 on Harry Sweeny (EF Education-EasyPost).
Vine lost two teammates to crashes today, first Jhonatan Narváz, who was second on GC, and then Vegard Stake Laengen
Race leader Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) cools down after a hot day in the saddle
Let’s hear from race leader Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
“Like I was saying this morning, this is such a team sport, and on a day like today, even more than a hilly stage, teammates really do count. And it's really unfortunate that we lost two guys, Jhony [Jhonatan Narváez], we're still waiting to hear from about him. Vega [Vegard Stake Laengen] is recovering; he should be okay. But being that far out of the peloton, it makes no sense to continue. So it's disappointing. But we're going to be praying that they both recover really well, because we've still got three more races to do in Australia before we head back.”
About tomorrow’s stage: "We've sort of probably got to go the same way [as today], but we've got to be very clever on letting the right move go, and I've still got a very large gap to second place now, so I can afford to let … we can be very smart and play the money ball game theory, style of race, and let the right break go, and then hopefully let someone else chase threatening move for their GC position. There's also, Brennan from [Visma] squad. The stage finish really suits him. It really suited Jhony. But I think he's probably the next best person that [stage 5] suits, so hopefully [Visma] will give us a hand there. And there's another teams that want to get something out of this race.”
Results powered by FirstCycling
Our race report, results, and photos can all be found here: Ethan Vernon wins wind-buffeted shortened stage 4 as second overall Jhonatan Narvaez crashes out
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