Willunga Hill king Richie Porte wins stage 3 of Santos Festival of Cycling

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Richie Porte (Team Garmin Australia) won stage 3 of the Santos Festival of Cycling, riding over the Willunga Hill finish line with young teammate Luke Plapp on his wheel.

No one could even come close to the pair on the iconic climb at the end of the 88.2 kilometre stage of the National Road Series Event, with Porte riding away from the competition at the base and then looking back as 20-year-old Plapp approached to usher him onto his wheel. Plapp then followed the Willunga Hill king up to the finish line at the top of the climb, where Porte has already tasted victory 6 times, and then sat up to clap as Porte rolled over in first.

“The rider of the day was Plappy in second. He could have easily come around me but he didn’t,” said Porte immediately after the stage. “It has just been a great race so far. I don’t have the form I normally would and I had to go longer than I normally would too, and that hurt, but it’s just great to be back racing.” 

The Santos Festival of Cycling replaces the usual WorldTour event, cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which means the Ineos Grenadiers rider is instead racing alongside the up-and-comers of the national team as they compete in the event, alongside Team BikeExchange, in a field dominated by domestic teams.

“One month ago I came out of quarantine a little bit rotund and I worked hard, had some really good training mates back there in Tassie that really kicked me back into gear, so I’m happy with that. Luke was the stronger of the two of us today ... but it’s just great to be back here in Australia racing and, yes, it’s not the WorldTour but it’s still a hard hard race,” said Porte.

Overall leader Luke Durbridge (Team BikeExchange) came in third, keeping an extremely generous lead of 2 minutes on the overall heading into the final stage. Though, he did give away ten seconds to second-placed GC rider Plapp after the Team Garmin Australia rider's speedy ascent of Willunga Hill.

“When you follow Richie’s wheel you just sit on and hang on for dear life,” said Plapp.

Chris Harper (Cervelo-Tonsley Village) came over the line fourth, which was enough to shift him up to third place on the overall as the race heads into the final criterium stage.

How it unfolded

It was a relatively short stage, at 88.2 kilometres, with just one ascent of Willunga Hill but the heat added considerably to the degree of difficulty with temperatures climbing their way into the high 30’s as riders set off from the Mclaren Vale start.

The attacks came early but it took a while for a break to take, with the one that stuck formed by Brad Sodden (Meiyo CCN Pro Cycling Team). The ranks swelled until ultimately there were nine riders out the front. The break included Cyrus Monk (Cycle House Racing), Marcus Culey (WorldTour Composite Team), Tristen Saunders (Butterfields Racing), Drew Morey (Team Bridgelane), Thomas Bolton (Olivers Real Food Racing), Will Hodges (Giant Racing Team), Craig Wiggins (ARA Pro-Racing Sunshine Coast) and Angus Lyons (ARA Pro-Racing Sunshine Coast).

Lyons was the best placed rider in the break and as the gap grew beyond two minutes he at times threatened the position of overall second place Plapp. That meant Team Garmin Australia could often been seen at the front of the peloton, with Team BikeExchange helping but not facing the same level of urgency in the chase given the size of Durbridge’s overall lead.

As the race passed by the well populated beach on the first lap Thomas Bolton mopped up the three sprint points, with Monk just behind and then on the second the order reversed. At that point the gap had stretched out to more than two-and-a-half minutes but that didn’t last.

At 15 kilometres to go the gap began to fall, slipping under two minutes, then by seven kilometres to go it was below one minute with the peloton speed increasing and the battle for position ramping up as the three kilometre climb of Willunga Hill approached.

With the writing on the wall for the break, Monk shot off the front and only some of the lead group could respond which meant the group of nine quickly turned into a group of four. Joining Monk out the front was Morey, Lyons and Hodges but it wasn’t to last once the climb began.

Chris Harper jumped out of the peloton but Porte would have none of it, chasing him down quickly and then heading off on his own on the lower slopes. It looked for a while like he would just ride off to the top alone, but then Porte kept looking back and it quickly became clear that the rider approaching behind wasn’t a threat but an ally.

Teammate Plapp jumped onto the wheel Porte offered and the pair rode the final stages of the climb together, with Plapp arriving at the top still looking strong but preferring to clap the Willunga Hill king over the line rather than try and pass the WorldTour professional who had been prepared to play the part of super domestique for an Australia up-and-comer.