Richie Porte (Team Sky) off the front on Willunga Hill (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Richie Porte (Team Sky) on his way to the stage win(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Old Willunga Hill is becoming a hugely popular spot for the Santos Tour Down Under(Image credit: Sirotti)
Richie Porte (Sky) celebrates his impressive win on Willunga Hill(Image credit: AFP)
Only five seconds made the difference from a repeat podium from the Australian men's National Road Race Championships held earlier in the month in Ballarat where Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge), Cadel Evans (BMC) and Richie Porte (Sky) made it a 1-2-3 finish. This time, Porte would finish fourth in the six-stage race behind Gerrans, Evans and Italy's Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida).
Two-time national champion, Gerrans, held on to a one-second lead over former world champion and Tour de France winner Evans to become the first rider to win the Tour Down Under, now in its 16th year, on three occasions.
In talking about Gerrans' victory in Ballarat, Porte said: "Simon showed he is pretty quick – I mean, he won a bunch sprint here, too. It's always going to be hard to beat him here and he had a great team around him as well."
"I am quite happy with how the week went."
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