Tour Down Under: Porte wins on Willunga as Impey takes lead

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Richie Porte (BMC Racing) won the Willunga Hill stage of the Tour Down Under for the fifth year in succession but narrowly missed out on the leader's jersey after a late fightback from Daryl Impey (Mitchelton Scott).

Porte distanced his rivals with two searing attacks and secured the stage win but Impey paced himself up the final climb, coming past a number of challengers – to take second on the stage. He finished eight seconds back and did enough to take the leader's jersey on countback from Porte. Tom-Jelte Slagter (Dimension Data) finished third on the stage and now sits third overall with one stage remaining. Overnight leader, Peter Sagan, cracked on the lower slopes of the climb and dropped down the GC.

""I tell you what that was the hardest one to win so far," Porte said.

The stage came alive just before the climb when EF-Education First accelerated in the crosswinds just before the final climb. The move split the peloton and BMC Racing briefly looked in disarray with Porte scrambling at the back of the reduced peloton as his team failed to manage the situation at first. They regained control before the road kicked up and Rohan Dennis was put to work on the lower slopes of Willunga as the riders faced a stiff headwind.

Dennis' work strung the lead group out and stopped any genuine attacks. The wearing down process looked to have worked when Porte attacked for the first time with 1.8km to go.

By that time Sagan was long gone but Bora-Hansgrohe's Jay McCarthy was able to follow Porte's initial move. If the Bora rider could hold Porte until the top he could have taken the leader's jersey but the Porte’s second acceleration - just as Team Sky's Egan Bernal was coming back - was too much and last year's champion rose out of the saddle for the rest of the climb.

Behind Porte, a number of attacks were made with Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) among those to make moves. However, it was Impey who raced the most intelligent race. First, he chased down the fading McCarthy before setting his sights on the riders still in front of him. As Porte lifted his arms in victory it was Impey who came around the final corner next, with the South African taking vital seconds on the line from Slagter. Finishing second put Impey into the leader's jersey on countback and he will be expected to seal the overall win tomorrow with the stage set to end in another sprint stage.

Impey came into the event as a relative darkhorse with Mitchelton proclaiming that they were coming into the race chasing stage wins with Caleb Ewan. Throughout the Australian season they have played their chances down and heaped the pressure on BMC while racing better and smarter. On Willunga their plan came together perfectly, and although the margin of Impey's lead is based on countback, he is just one stage away from become the first South African to win the race.

“I’ve gone pretty well up Willunga before, maybe not this well, but also I have come here as a bit of a protected rider this year so I think it pays dividends at the end of a race like this. That being said it is always a question mark so when you surprise yourself like today it is special.”

“When Richie attacked I just used everyone there and I knew the guys where still racing for the podium so I just rode my own race. I always knew in the back of my mind I had to do a big sprint to the top and I didn’t actually know where Richie was at the finish, so when I saw the time I knew maybe I could be in the jersey.”

How it unfolded

The early stages of the race were made when a seven-man group formed just after the flag dropped. Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) - who was in the break on the same stage last year - was joined by mountains jersey leader, Nicholas Dlamini (Dimension Data), Scott Bowden (UniSA-Australia), Mads Würtz Schmidt (Katusha-Alpecin), Zakkari Dempster (UniSA-Australia), Fumiyuki Beppu (Trek-Segafredo) and Nuno Bico (Movistar Team).

The Movistar rider had an early crash but battled back to the rest of the group as Bora set about controlling affairs for the first hour. The break of seven established a lead of almost five minutes before BMC Racing injected some pace into proceedings, with a number of teams eventually lending their support as the first ascent of Willunga Hill came into view. Bahrain Merida, LottoNL Jumbo and UAE all looked impressive at that point as Mitchelton sat back and protected Impey.

The climb split the break with De Gendt and Dlamini soon the only two riders at the front of the bunch. The Lotto Soudal rider kicked on over the top and briefly held a minute's advantage over the chasing pack.

He was eventually caught inside the final 10 kilometers as EF Education put the hammer down. That action almost cost Porte any chance of defending his title as he was forced into the gutter, and it certainly cost him some energy. Porte was certainly the strongest climb on Willunga but as the line approached he didn't appear to be turning the pedals with the same cadence as twelve months ago - understandable given the strong headwind. His two attacks were vicious enough to win the stage but not finish Impey.

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