Tour Down Under 2017: Stage 6

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the 2017 Tour Down Under's final stage, a 90km circuit race around the streets of Adelaide.

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The 2017 Tour Down Under will conclude today on the streets of Adelaide, where the peloton will compete over 20 laps of a 4.5km urban circuit. 

Stage 6 profile:

Before we take a look at today's contenders, let's look back to yesterday's Willunga Hill stage won by overall leader Richie Porte, his second stage win of the race.

Here's the stage 6 top 10:

 

1 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team 3:40:13
2 Nathan Haas (Aus) Dimension Data 0:00:20
3 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-Scott
4 Diego Ulissi (Ita) Team UAE Abu Dhabi
5 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
6 Nathan Earle (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:00:23
7 Rafael Valls (Spa) Lotto Soudal
8 Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Col) Team Sky
9 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
10 Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac

...and the General Classification going into today's stage.

1 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team 18:00:21
2 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-Scott 0:00:48
3 Nathan Haas (Aus) Dimension Data 0:00:51
4 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:54
5 Diego Ulissi (Ita) Team UAE Abu Dhabi 0:00:59
6 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:01:02
7 Rafael Valls (Spa) Lotto Soudal
8 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
9 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb
10 Nathan Earle (Aus) UniSA-Australia

It's very likely the general classification won't change today, but the big question is whether Caleb Ewan can run the table on sprint stages. He's already won stages 1, 3 and 5, and if he wins his fourth stage today, he and Porte will have won every stage of the Tour. That's quite remarkable.

In other cycling news, the Vuelta a San Juan will start on January 23 and teams are already in Argentina. We've got a gallery for you to check out HERE.

The racing is underway in Adelaide. Hang on!

The peloton is making the U turn at King William and Franklin for the first time

Two riders have a small lead over the field.

The two riders away are Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) and Gianluca Brambilla (Quick - Step Floors)

De gendt, you'll recall, was in yesterday's breakaway as well. He's tied on points with Porte in the mountains classification, so this may be a bid to win that competition while Porte minds his overall lead. There are KOM spots on Montefiore Hill on laps 10 and 15.

We also have two intermediate sprints today with time bonuses on the line. Riders will be sprinting for time and points at the end of laps 8 and 12

Jay McCarthy is three seconds behind Nathan Haas' third-place spot, while Haas is three seconds out of Esteban Chaves' second-place spot. That could make the sprints interesting.

Lap 3 of 20 and the gap to De Gendt and Brambilla is 22 seconds.

The average speed for the race so far is 46km/h

The peloton appears to be easing up a bit. The gap might go out now.

Brambilla is a 29-year-old Italian who has ridden for Quick-Step since 2013. He won stages in both the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana this year.

And just like that, the gap is up to 30 seconds.

The peloton is now on the 4th of 20 laps.

Bora-Hansgrohe has two riders on the front of the peloton powering the chase. Sagan would no doubt like to pick up a win today, but he just hasn't had the speed to get past Ewan so far this week. He's got one more chance.

We're on lap 5 of 20 and the gap is at 22 seconds. The first sprint is at the end of lap 8.

De Gendt is wearing the mountains jersey although Porte, who is wearing the leader's jersey, leads the classification based on stage finishes

Lap 6 of 20: The gap is down to 12 seconds as the sprint lap approaches. They may not leave it for De Gendt and Brambilla.

The peloton is close enough to the break to almost touch them now. They've got a lap to finish them off and have a clean run at the sprint.

The riders are on lap 8 now. The sprint comes at the end, and they are all together.

Sagan leading out McCarthy, but it looks like Ewan got it.

No. it's McCarthy with the win and the three-second bonus. He's not tied with Nathan Haas on overall time in third.

Nice to have the world champion leading you out, eh Jay?

Official sprint results:

1 Jay McCarthy (Bora-Hhansgrohe)
2 Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott)
3 Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) 

The race is all together after the sprint.

Attacks are starting to come. One Dimension Data dangling rider off the front.

We're on lap 10 of 20, and a group of riders has jumped off the front. The group is probably too big to get much leash.

Adam Hansen pulls Thomas De Gendt away from the group and De Gendt gets the KOM points to take the classification lead from Porte.

Still on lap 10 of 20, and a group of eight has opened up a small gap

Starting the second half of the race now. Lap 11.

KOM results:

1: Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal)
2: Adam Hansen (Lotto Soudal)
3: Alex Howes (Cannondale-Drapac)

Six riders are off the front. Trying to get numbers

Here are the riders in the break:

Johannes Frohlinger (Team Sunweb)
Ben O'Connor (Dimension Data)
Jaco Venter (Dimension Data)
Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal)
Francois Bidard (Ag2R La Mondiale)
Jack Bauer (Quick-Step Floors)

Katusha's Sven Bystrom and Jhonatan Restrepo are in no-man's land chasing the leaders

Lap 12 of 20: Another sprint is coming up at the end of this lap.

The gap to the peloton is now 34 seconds,and Bystrom has gone back to the field.

BMC riders are in the front of the peloton for Porte. It's Ventoso again. He was the workhorse for BMC yesterday.

The leaders are lining up for the sprint. Jhonatan Restrepo takes it and gets the three-second bonus. And he's sitting up and going back to the group.

Lap 13 of 20 and the breakaway is still in control of this stage

None of these riders are a threat to Porte's overall lead, so the sprinters' teams are going to have to pull these guys back if they want a shot at the stage win.

Current gap is 55 seconds.

Lap 14 of 20, and the gap is 54 seconds. The peloton obviously doesn't want to give these escapees much time.

With his time bonus, Jhonatan Restrepo moves into the lead of the Young Rider classification.

Orica-Scott is powering the chase, followed by Astana and Trek-Segafredo

Lap 15 of 20 and the gap has shrunk to 30 seconds. Orcia still chasing to set up Ewan for a chance to get his fourth stage win.

The gap is down to 15 seconds with just over five laps to go. Ewan may indeed get his chance

Lap 16 of 20. Gap is now down to 10 seconds.

Reminiscent of yesterday, Jack Bauer has gone off solo

The peloton is 16 sevonds behind Bauer, with Jaco Venter and Francois Bidard  at five seconds.

Bauer is really flying, but he's only got 16 seconds over a motivated field.

Bauer named the most combative rider for the third day in a row. 

Lap 16 of 20 still in progress

Power and the peloton just passed each other going opposite directions on side-by-side roads.

The two chasers have been caught. Now it's just Bauer and the peloton.

Bauer still has 22 seconds on the bunch.

Bauer is obviously in pain as his gap dips to 15 seconds.

We're on lap 17 of 20

Bauer just looked over his shoulder at the peloton 10 seconds behind. It was a good effort, Jack.

Bauer about 50 meters ahead of the bunch

What a fighter Bauer is. He's not giving up.

Bauer is getting the sign for two laps to go, but the peloton is just dangling two seconds behind.

And Bauer has been caught

All together now and there is no urgency.

 Bahrain-Merida and team Sky on the front with just over one lap to go

The bunch is taking the bell for the final lap. Looks like we're in for a field sprint.

Orica has taken control of the front of the race with Team Sky right there. Ewan is there, and Sagan and Van Poppel.

Impey winding it up for Ewan

Ewan goes. Sagn goes

It's Ewan! That's four wins in four chances for the young Australian.

Porte crosses the line to take the overall win!

Today's top 10:

1 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-Scott 1:55:28
2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
3 Marko Kump (Cze) UAE Abu Dhabi
4 Danny Van Poppel (Ned) Team Sky
5 Sean De Bie (Bel) Lotto Soudal
6 Lorrenzo Manzin (Fra) FDJ
7 Koen De Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
8 Jasha Sutterlin (Ger) Movistar Team
9 Nathan Haas (Aus) Dimension Data
10 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe