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.
"I think it was such a hard lead in there at the bottom when Education First put it into the gutter. I felt great and the guys looked after me all day but it hurt so much. We talked about it this morning with guys like Simon Gerrans. He has been a fantastic addition to our team. I couldn't look back, I just had to go. Of course, you look back a bit and I could see that Jay McCarthy (Bora-hansgrohe) was strong to start with. I think this stage is much better for me than it is for him so I just stuck in. I must admit with 300 meters to go, I almost stopped. Maybe I went a bit too hard. Last year winning with the ochre jersey was special but this is up there as one of the most special too."
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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.
How it unfolded
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-down-under-2018/stage-5/results
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