Stage 4 winner Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) talks to the media at the finish(Image credit: Getty Images)
Peloton races on Myponga Reservoir (Image credit: Getty Images)
Peloton racing by the beach on stage 4(Image credit: Getty Images)
Breakaway of Junior Lecerf (Soudal-Quickstep), Giosue Epis (Arkea-B&B Hotels), Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty), Ide Schelling (XDS Astana) and Swiss champion Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) (Image credit: Getty Images)
Peloton leaving Glenelf, start of stage 4(Image credit: Getty Images)
Best young rider Albert Withen Philipsen (Lidl-Trek) signs in at the start(Image credit: Getty Images)
Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) held off a late charge by Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) and Jhonathan Narvaez (UAE Team Emirates XRG) in a chaotic sprint to win stage 4 of the Tour Down Under in Victor Harbor.
The French fastman timed his sprint perfectly, using Laurence Pithie (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) to slingshot his way to the front with 300 metres to go in the mad dash for the line. Bauhaus tried to come at him but it was too late and had to settle for second place. Narvaez waved his arms in frustration and took third.
Coquard didn’t let an early crash, where his teammate Alexis Renard emerged bloodied, deny his victorious sprint after he stayed in the front group that split on the category 2 Nettle Hill, cresting inside of 20 kilometres to go before a fast descent to the finish line.
Israel-Premier Tech team led the chase to catch the last remaining breakaway rider Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) was caught leading to a flurry of attacks at the front of the 72-rider group, some of these attacks covered by race leader himself Javier Romo (Movistar). Five Ineos Grenadiers riders attempted to control the bunch with one kilometre to go but they were swamped in the finale.
Race leader Javier Romo (Movistar) finished safely in the group and retained the lead in the general classification.
“Very lucky to win today, because yesterday is not a good day for the team, we didn't have good legs, And the general classification is [gone], we lose a chance yesterday, but today, I know it's my best chance to win here. And, yeah, it's a perfect day,” Coquard said.
Back in 2023, the 32-year-old claimed his first WorldTour victory at the Tour Down Under.
“I love this country. Maybe in the start of season, every every year, I’m good, and I start good, and with the results, yeah, I love this country. It's perfect for me to start. And it's a good start for the team.”
On the eve of the Queen Stage, Romo has four seconds on Narvaez and 10 seconds on Patrick Konrad (Lidl-Trek) and Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe). A total of 28 riders, including Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers), Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates XRG), Chris Harper and Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla), Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) and defending champion Stephen Williams (Israel-PremierTech), are under one minute.
Stage 5 will feature two ascents of the iconic Willunga Hill in the last 25km, for the final GC showdown on Saturday.
“I'm very happy, the objective today was to maintain the jersey. My team did super good job leading the leading the race , it’s not normal to see Movistar leading the race to maintain the job they did and let's see tomorrow in Willunga,” Romo said.
How it unfolded
Martín López (XDS Astana) was the fourth non-starter, dropping out after a crash on stage 3 of the Tour Down Under. He reportedly was hit by a tree branch and fell face-first to the ground. He has a mild concussion and had to get some stitches, but is otherwise OK according to the team.
The fight for the breakaway was more hectic at the start of the 157.2km stage 4 from Glenelg to Victor Harbor, with an attack coming first from notable attackers Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty) and Ide Schelling (XDS Astana). Initially, there was no reaction from the bunch, but a counter-attack from Giosue Epis (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) sparked interest from Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) and Junior Lecerf (Soudal-Quickstep), both of whom closed the sub-30 second gap to the three attackers, eventually making a five-man move.
A crash in the peloton took down Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) and also involved Cofidis' Bryan Coquard and Alexis Renard. All riders were quickly back up and riding but the chaos allowed the lead quintet to open a minute's gap.
The peloton kept the breakaway on a short leash, they weren't given much more than a two-minute advantage. Schmid, starting the day at 31 seconds and Lecerf at 35 were the main animators for the bonus sprints. The Swiss champion bested the Belgian in both to chip away at his GC deficit.
Just 50km into the stage, after an uncategorised climb, the gap to the peloton was down just below a minute and the team cars between the break and bunch were sent back, suggesting there might be an early catch ahead of the intermediate sprint at kilometre 71.5.
However, the peloton sat up and let the gap go back out a bit, allowing the breakaway to contest the sprint. After taking the bonus seconds, Schmid was up to 19th place overall at 25 seconds while Lecerf climbed from 28th to 21st.
His job done, Lecerf sat up and went back to the peloton, leaving the four others to try to hold off the chase. The gap went back out over two minutes as the bunch bided their time to shut them down, not wanting the catch to come and spark any further attacks.
Their lead went out to 2:31 with 52km to go but with Epis skipping pulls and teams like Jayco-AlUla, EF Education-EasyPost and Israel-Premier Tech coming forward to take over from Movistar in the bunch, the time gap began to fall rapidly.
As the final climb approached, the gap to the breakaway fell under one minute as the battle for position in the peloton heated up. It had swung back out over the 60-second mark with 26km to go and Natnael Tesfazion attacked briefly, perhaps to try and reignite the chase, but it didn't work.
By the time they hit the Nettle Hill ascent with 23km to go, the four leaders still had 1:15. As the gradients began to bite, Epis was dropped as Schmid surged clear with Schelling and Van der Hoorn further down the road.
Just behind, UAE Team Emirates surged to halve the leader's advantage, catching Epis before the summit and Van der Hoorn and Schelling soon after. Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech) strung out the chasing group over the top in pursuit and points leader Sam Welsford (Bora-Hansgrohe) bore the brunt of the pain, ending up in a chasing group.
Schmid was finally caught by Van der Hoorn, who led the peloton past with 13.2km to go.
Pablo Torres (UAE Team Emirates) was the next attacker, popping up the road on an unclassified rise with 11.5km remaining. Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R) quickly bridged across, but the peloton were moving too quickly and their move lasted for less than a kilometre.
Next to go was Sven Erik Bystrøm (Groupama-FDJ), marked by Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), and then Chris Harper (Jayco-AlUla) went on the attack. Bystrøm again was keen to go with.
The GC danger heated up when Patrick Konrad (Lidl-Trek) attacked, forcing Romo to react, and with the pair ahead holding a slender lead, Soler used his engine to close them down with 7.5km to go.
No team managed to control the front of the peloton but Ineos Grenadiers tried their hand at it, putting five riders in the mix with one kilometre to go but were swamped 600 metres later by the charging group accelerating towards the line.
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Laura Weislo has been with Cyclingnews since 2006 after making a switch from a career in science. As Managing Editor, she coordinates coverage for North American events and global news. As former elite-level road racer who dabbled in cyclo-cross and track, Laura has a passion for all three disciplines. When not working she likes to go camping and explore lesser traveled roads, paths and gravel tracks. Laura specialises in covering doping, anti-doping, UCI governance and performing data analysis.
