2014 Santos Tour Down Under - Stage 5
January 25, 2014: McLaren Vale-Willunga Hill, 151.5km
Stage 5 profile
What Baden Cooke says...
The winner on Willunga Hill could well be the race's overall winner on the queen stage of the tour. Historically, this stage has been hot and windy and these factors can drastically change the race outcome. Riders will do three laps of the larger, flatter circuit that passes along the beach before tackling the final two laps up Wilunga Hill.
After the fist passage up Willunga Hill, the hill that is famous for having Tour de France like crowds, the riders stay on a plateau for a few kms that makes chasing quite hard. Once the riders attack the climb for the final time it will be every man for himself, with a gradient reaching upwards of 10% it will be sure to sort the men out from the boys. I predict Simon Gerrans to once again be the man to beat.
Stage profile
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Latest on Cyclingnews
-
Tour de Suisse stage 3 Live – Another chance for GC action on tough finish into Heiden
Lengthy 195.6km stage starting in Aarau builds up to climbing-packed final 20km finale -
'Life goes on' – Eddy Merckx enjoys a quiet 80th birthday after five days of official celebrations
'Take a metre and cut off eighty centimetres... Then there's not much left, right' Merckx philosophical on turning 80 -
We think the Exposure Lights Strada AKTIV is the ultimate bike light – now with almost £50 off it's got a seldom-seen discount that will surely sell out
As one of the most expensive bike lights we've ever tested, the Strada has an incredible list of features, a 'bombproof' construction, and now it has 15% off -
He finished eighth at the Dauphiné, but here's why Paul Seixas won't be racing the Tour de France
Fears of overwork and disrupting progression behind Decathlon AG2R's decision to take it slow with 18-year-old rising star