Sergio Henao and his Team Sky teammates went for broke on stage 5 of the Tour Down Under but even their collective strength was no match for Richie Porte who once again steamrollered the opposition.
Henao came into the key stage to Willunga with a point to prove after losing time on the stage to Paracombe. Even though he was 33 seconds off the lead Team Sky still held hopes of wrestling a spot on the podium. In the end Henao finished eight on Willunga Hill, even though he was briefly the only man to try and follow Porte after the Australian attacked. With one stage to go - a flat sprint stage – Henao now sits 11th overall, at 1:06 after other riders surged up to him and past him at the finish.
“The team put in a really strong effort going in to the bottom of the climb to put me in a strong position,” Henao said atop Willunga Hill.
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"There was a gap starting to form ahead of the other guys but I knew I had to continue on and I knew it would be difficult to follow Richie up the hill.”
“I was trying to get a place on the podium. It was all or nothing."
In praise of Porte
Team Sky and Orica-Scott set a furious tempo in the run up to the second and final ascent up Willunga. Ian Stannard, Kenny Elissonde and then Sebastian Henao helped to reduce the lead group to under a dozen riders and when Porte jumped clear to take the stage and extend his lead, Sergio Henao jumped too, attempted to match the BMC rider.
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