Tour Down Under 2019: Stage 4 Preview

"We've used this stage before, and it's the first guaranteed day for the GC riders to hit the front," Matt White, head sports director at Mitchelton-Scott, explains. "We've had that approach, the final climb and then the descent a number of times, and it's incredibly important in terms of the overall battle. The Corkscrew climb is longer and harder than Willunga Hill, and you can have a situation in which one rider goes clear, takes five seconds at the top of the climb and is able to survive until the finish if they know the descent well enough or are willing to take risks.

"You could also see a larger group of around 10 contesting a reduced sprint, but the pure sprinters won't survive the climb. It might even be too hard for Peter Sagan. By the finish we'll see who is really in contention to win the overall. If you lose time on this stage, then your race is over because Corkscrew has the potential to be more selective than Willunga."