Porte wins on Willunga but Impey sets up overall victory
Richie Porte (BMC Racing) on the podium (Image credit: Tim de Waele)
Richie Porte (BMC) won the Willunga Hill stage of the Santos Tour Down Under for the fifth year in succession but missed out on the leader's jersey after a late fight back from Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) gave the South African the ochre leader's jersey thanks to a count back on previous stage placings.
Porte distanced all 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, enough to take the leader's jersey on count back from Porte. Tom-Jelte Slagter (Dimension Data) finished third on the stage and now sits third overall at 16 seconds with the final stage in downtown Adelaide remaining.
Overnight leader and stage 4 winner Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) cracked on the lower slopes of the climb and dropped down the GC.
Impey came into the Tour Down Under as a relative dark horse with Mitchelton-Scott 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. On Willunga their plan came together perfectly, and although the margin of Impey's lead is based on count back, he is just one stage away from become the first South African to win the race.
"I can’t believe it, to have the leader's jersey is just fantastic and to be in Australia and in an Australian team and deliver like this after all of their help is just really amazing."
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