Santos Festival of Cycling: Welsford takes stage 4 while Durbridge holds firm on GC

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Sam Welsford (Team Garmin Australia) showed just why he’s wearing the Australian criterium champion’s jersey, taking victory on stage 4 at the Santos Festival of Cycling  while Luke Durbridge (Team BikeExchange)  safely crossed the line to take the overall jersey that he laid claim to on the very first day of racing in South Australia.

The criterium win at the 1.1 kilometre long Victoria Park circuit in Adelaide was the third stage victory for Team Garmin Australia at the four-day National Road Series race. 

“Richie [Porte] went in front and pulled some big turns to pull the break back and then it was all up to me and Kell [Kelland O’Brien] and [Luke] Plapp to bring back that last little bit and hopefully I was in a good position for the wheel. The last straight was a big drag race and it was really technical and we did that corner at probably 65k an hour. We had one shot at it and that was it,” said Welsford straight after the stage.

Welsford came in ahead of Kaden Groves (Team BikeExchange) who just couldn’t stick with the charge of the national champion as he flew through the final corner and then powered through the last straight to take a clear victory. Jensen Plowright (Team Bridgelane) slipped through for third in a tight battle for the final podium spot.

”It was a really good job by the boys keeping me fresh all day and I was disappointed I couldn’t finish it off,” said Groves.

One of those teammates that kept Groves fresh was Durbridge. The blue jersey of the overall leader was working hard at the front on the final laps before riding over the finishing line to confirm the overall victory that he looked sure to take after the very first stage of The Santos Festival of Cycling , which was run as a replacement to the normal WorldTour event. 

Team BikeExchange was always marked as a squad to beat as it was the only WorldTour team racing alongside the domestic teams and a sprinkling of WorldTour professionals who had returned home for the Australian summer. The national team, led by Porte, Team Garmin Australia not surprisingly turned out to be the biggest threat and while Team BikeExchange ultimately lost the stage tally battle one-to-three their dominance on the overall couldn’t have been more clear.

In the end Durbridge took the GC with a margin of two minutes to Luke Plapp (Team Garmin Australia) and 2:31 to Jumbo Visma climber Chris Harper who was racing for Cervelo-Tonsley Village at the event.

“It has been a fantastic week for us,” said Durbridge. “I  think the boys did a really good job today. Everybody dug in and gave Kaden the best opportunity and he came over second so we have got to be happy with that and we have got to be happy with the week. This has really set us up for the summer.”

How it unfolded

A day with temperatures in the 40's meant the heat was still on even though the men started racing well into the evening. However, that didn't mean there was any taking it easy with the breaks coming thick and fast as riders jostled for not only the stage win but the points and time bonuses on offer during the intermediate sprints.

Cyrus Monk (Cycle House Racing) was one of the most attentive at the front as he started the stage on equal points with Durbridge in the sprint competition and clearly wanted to leapfrog the overall leader and also make sure no one else came up from behind.

It was a group of eight clear out the front that approached the first intermediate sprint point on lap 10 and while Monk tried to jump out of the pack and take the points Raphael Freiensten (InForm TM Insight Make) was far too quick. Freiensten’s efforts, and the three bonus seconds that came with them, bumped him up to fourth place overall while Monk’s second was enough for him to secure the sprint competition. 

After that the break ebbed and flowed and ultimately by the time the next intermediate sprint approached at 20 laps there were four out the front, with two forging ahead to contest the sprint. Matt Ross (Cycle House Racing) came out on top, beating Brendon Davids (Olivers Real Food Racing).

The group of four came back together but as the gap to the peloton dropped to only ten seconds with 5 laps to go it wasn’t long until their time was over. All eyes were now on that final line and Porte and Durbridge were two of the riders that could be seen working hard on the front to try and set up the final sprint for their competing teammates.

Though when the bell for the final lap rang it was time for the sprint trains to take over. They delivered Groves and Welsford to the front to squeeze through that final corner at a blistering pace before Welsford crossed in first and quickly went to find his teammates to celebrate taking the final victory of the tour.