As it happened: Jhonathan Narvaez is king of Willunga at Tour Down Under stage 5

Welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 5, from McLaren Vale to Willunga Hill, of the Tour Down Under. The stage starts at 11:10am local time or 12:30am GMT and finishes roughly four hours later.

Stage 3 winner Javier Romo (Movistar) tops the GC with a 4-second lead on Jhonathan Narvaez (UAE Team Emirates XRG), 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), Albert Withen Philipsen (Lidl-Trek) and defending champion Stephen Williams (Israel-PremierTech), are under one minute.

18-year-old Philipsen tops the best young rider classification. Fergus Browning (ARA Australia) leads the mountain classification while double stage winner Sam Welsford (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) leads the points classification.

It's the big day - Willunga! 

Stage 5 of the Tour Down Under in under 10 minutes. The 145.7km stage features two ascents of the iconic climb in the last 25km, making this stage another leg-breaker. Riders get a warm-up on Wickham Hill in the opening of the stage. The category 1 climb precedes a relatively sedate middle 80km before the key Willunga Hill ascents where the winner of the 2025 Tour Down Under will be decided.

Perfect weather to tackle Willunga today, with temperatures at 24C and mostly sunny.

We're riding through the 2.4 neutral zone before Stuart O'Grady drops the flag at KM 0. 

Last year, Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) won the Willunga stage, and almost beat the strava record.

And we're off and racing! 

And immediate attack from 3 riders.

Eenkhoorn made the first attack with plenty of riders trying to get into the breakaway. It's going to be pure chaos trying to get away today.

Arkea, Australia, Jayco all covering moves as the peloton goes up a slight uphill.

Another attack by Soudal, this time it's Pedersen with Durbridge following the move. 

Swift also jumped, and more riders follow.

Soudal continues to accelerate. 

7 riders with a few seconds with more tyring to bridge up. Back of the peloton is single file. 

More riders trying to join the now 12 riders with a gap. And more action from behind shuts down this attack.

Big group still has a few seconds, includes Durbridge, Askey.  

Peloton shuts it down and FDJ & Australia counters. 

Hepburn jumps across with a few more riders joining this attack.

Peloton is chasing.  Ineos, Intermache, FDJ, Australia, Jayco all represented in this 7-rider  move.

Lidl does't want to miss it, tries to bridge up and brings the field with him.

Bleddyn attacks solo, with a few more riders trying to bridge.

Eenkhoorn, Hepburn, Ben Swift  and Torres bridge up to Bleddyn 

The five riders have a small gap with 136.5km to go. Torres is 35 seconds down on GC.

Lopez bridged across to the break making it 6 up the road. 

Break

6 riders off the front: Oliver Bleddyn (ARA Australia), Michael Hepburn (Jayco-AlUla). Pascal Eenkhoorn (Soudal-Quickstep), Pablo Torres (UAE Team Emirates XRG), Ben Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) and Juan Lopez (Lidl-Trek) have 1:20 with 132km to go.

Swift showed that he wasn't happy with Torres being in the break since he sits only 35 seconds down on GC. Swift is working for his teammate Sheffield.

Still lots of chatter in the break, which seems to be about Torres, even if Torres is working with the group.

5 km to cat.1 Wickham Hill in McLaren Flat, which extends over three kilometres, 6.9% gradient and hits a maximum gradient of 13.3%

Break is attacking each other, they simply don't want Torres with them. Meanwhile, Movistar took its place at the front of the peloton followed by PostNL.

Lopez attacks the break with 2.6km to the top and Torres is the first to react.

Torres gets on Lopez's wheel, and they've opened a gap to the rest of the break.

Torres and Lopez are cooperating in the pacesetting with 2km to go to top of Wickham Hill. 

The remaining 4 riders in the break are climbing at their own pace. 

Torres and Lopez see 1km to go to the top. 

Lopez and Torres have a quick chat. 

Lopez takes top points on KOM #1, just in front of Torres who did not really contest, that must have been the conversation.  Break has 2:12 on the peloton 

More attacks in the front group. Torres and Lopez waited for the other four riders who had hatched a plan. They accelerated past as soon at they caught the duo and surprise them. 

The four are pushing the pace at the front and now Swift is contribution in the rotation now. 

The quartet now have 1:41 with 120 km to go. 

Lopez is chasing solo now. 

Torres sat up and will rejoin the peloton. 

Caught in no mans land, Lopez chats with his director as his team car comes next to him. Continue to chase or sit up?

The four at the front have 2:50 on the field. Lopez is 28 seconds behind them with 113km to go, as Torres rejoins the peloton.

Swift is leading the break who are not slowing down to allow Lopez to join back. They are going around 44kmph.

Break have crested Willunga and are now descending down in the opposite direction to the finish

Hold on - this is a very fast descent!  

Lopez is going 94kmph on the descent as he chases the 4 up the road.

Peloton is cresting Willunga and now starting the descent. 

Crash

Crash at the top of the descent, Harper, Welsford, Loe van Belle were all involved.

Durbridge stopped to help his teammate Harper. Van Belle waited for his team car and is now on a new bike.

The break of 4 now have 4:17 on the peloton, as Lopez is 30 seconds back, still chasing solo with 103km to go.

Lopez can see the riders up ahead on the very long and straight road - so close and yet so far. 

Image 1 of 2

Photos from the start in McLaren Vale from the Cyclingnews team.

Break chatting on if they should let Lopez catch back on. 

Welsford is at the medical car, getting her right shoulder looked at. Second crash for the sprint leader at the Tour Down Under.

Lopez gets more bottles from the neutral car. The quartet is simply not waiting for him, as he's 14 seconds behind on the flattest section of the course with 97km to go.

Lopez is losing time to the four up the road, and he gets another bottle for the neutral motorcycle. He's now at 35 seconds back. Ouch.

Break took the turn towards Snapper Point on their way to the first intermediate sprint. They have 4:19 on the peloton with 93km togo.

Break is inside of 1.5km to the intermediate sprint #1 

Ouch. Lopez is stretching his back, and has given up the chase. 

Break does not contest the sprint, they simply roll through led by Eenkhoorn, followed by Hepburn.

Picnic PostNL at the front of the peloton, controlling the gap.

Jürgen Roelandts, Movistar DS, told Cyclingnews at the start this morning:

"It's a tough one. I think all the riders know most of the time it comes down to the last time up [Willunga] ... we will try to control the race until the last time. If it's like all the other years that will be the ideal scenario for us.

"We saw last year [Narvaez] was third there in the sprint with Onley and Williams. He's fast, but at the end of the climb it's still different. I think it's all the legs that decide the last climb - let's get them just there at the bottom of the climb and then may the best guy win. “

85km to go

And Lopez is back into the peloton, single filed behind Picnic 

Loe Van Belle (Visma-Lease A Bike) who crashed earlier in the stage, has abandoned. 

Matt Wilson, Picnic-PostNl DS told Cyclingnews at the start in McLaren Vale. Their rider Oscar Onley won the Willunga stage last year.

"Oscar proved last year that he can do a good result. I think he's going into the stage quite confident. We have to make sure we bring Oscar as fresh as possible into that final, and then it's all down to the legs."

"I think Narvaez showed he's in good form. He will focus on his race, we have to just do our best to get Oscar as fresh as possible into the final. And when the pace is hard, then I think we can get a good result."

Picnic PostNL continues to set the pace at the front of the peloton, gap is now at 3:26 to the 4 riders in the break with 74km to go 

Geert van Bondt, Soudal-Quickstep DS, on Junior Lecerf who went into the break on stage 4:

“We're hoping that he will perform well again today. Yesterday, he made that move with Mauro Schmid. He said, OK, let's go for that bonus second, and then I come back in the peloton, I can move up a little bit [in GC]. He’s still,very young. We were here with him to be top 20 in GC.” 

“On stage 3 he hoped for a little bit more, but on the last 300 meters of the climb, he had it pretty difficult, so he missed the first group a little bit. And then he said yesterday, let's try to take some extra seconds. Now, of course, we hope he can follow the best riders again and still can move up in GC.  That would be nice for him for his age, and yeah, we hope he can be coming in that top 20 position.”

Lecerf is 32 seconds down in GC.

Fabio Baldato, UAE Team Emirates XRG DS, told Cyclingnews and other media at the start that Jay Vine has road rash all down his right side and as a former rider, he knows it could cost him 5%. 

"Nothing broken, nothing too bad. After a hard crash like he had, it's not easy to be 100%. He will do his best. I know he can give great support to Jhonatan. That is important. We need to try to go all in for [Narvaez] today."

"[Jay] will fight to the end today, he's a fighter. For sure he will be there”

Baldato's been at TDU for a long time, with BMC back in the day with Richie Porte, so knows the climb well.

"It's always 2k to the top is the point to go, where you really can make a difference - where they already did six minute climbing - when the legs are hurting, you need to try to go. It's up to the rider. I cannot tell from the car 'now is the moment to go'."

UAE is focussed on the stage win today, thinking that will be the chance to win the overall.

The four riders in the break - Bleddyn, Hepburn, Eenkhoorn and Swift - are still working well together and holding the gap at 3:18 with 67km to go.

Bleddyn gets a bottle from the neutral car and uses it to spray his legs to cool down.

Bernie Eisel, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe DS, shared his thoughts about Finn Fisher-Black with Cyclingnews:

“We're looking good at around the same time [in GC], which was always the goal. I'd say we had to invest quite a lot already with the sprints and everything so, but we came here with one clear goal. That was stage wins over GC first, and now we can start focusing on ... the GC for Finn.”

 “The whole team is around them. We are dead last in team GC, but we have two stage wins and we're sitting fourth in GC. So it was definitely the start we hoped for. Today it's about positioning. This is what the boys definitely can do really well. At the same time with Finn, it's one effort to the top. We are confident. He has the legs, we have the team and with a little bit of luck, hopefully we'll play for a good podium spot.”

Fisher-Black is 10 seconds down on GC.

54km to go

Bleddyn, Hepburn, Eenkhoorn and Swift in the break have 3:07 on the field who is slowly ticking down the gap. Peloton is stretched out.

Still Picnic PostNL lined up at the front of the peloton, followed by Movistar with race leader Romo. 

The break is racing towards the second intermediate sprint in Snapper Point and the four riders are inside of 1km to the line. Gap is now under 3 minutes, at 2:50

No contest - Swift rolls through first ahead of Hepburn and Bleddyn in the intermediate sprint.

Teams are grouping in the peloton, starting to think about their position on the approach to the first time up Willunga Hill. 

As we speed towards Willunga, let's do a quick GC recap - Romo holds fragile four-second lead on 2024 runner-up Narvaez. 

Four seconds, ten seconds, 12 seconds - even 15 seconds doesn't sound like much when it comes to WorldTour stage racing. But the Tour Down Under general classification margins are as far apart as they are close ahead of the penultimate stage to Willunga.

Read more: Tour Down Under GC battle remains poised on knife-edge before key Willunga stage

Ineos is moving closer to the front of the field still led by Picnic. Lidl, Visma are all massing close to the front. 

Within 10 kilometres, the peloton has pulled one minute back and the gap is under 2 minutes. Joining the chase is UAE now with 41.4km to go 

Vine and Narvaez moving up on. Romo is on a teammate's wheel as the front of the peloton is re-shuffling.

Neutral car stopping by the break, say 'we might get pulled out soon', and gives the riders a chance to get more bottles. Gap is 1:25 with 35km to go.

More time bonus seconds are available at the finish today, and those seconds are always important at Tour Down Under.

Read more: Narváez's battles for bonus seconds bubbles over in contentious stage 4 Tour Down Under sprint in Victor Harbor

Crash

Jordan Labrosse crashed on the right turn, he got squeezed and just ran out of road. Needs assistance from his mechanic before he can start again. 

Break is inside of 6km to the bottom of Willunga Hill. They have 1:12 on the field. 

IPT now comes to the front as the teams try to position themselves before the climb.

The break has been riding with an average of 45kmph but that's not enough to stay away. Gap at one minute.

No urgency for some of the riders in the peloton. Plapp chatting with his teammate Schmid at the back. Williams also move towards the back as the field is tightly packed.

Jayco on the left side of the road, EF on the right, Groupama, Intermaché, Picnic are lining up behind their teammates. 

Hepburn has had enough and sat up and dropped out of the break, leaving 3 off the front with a gap of 49 seconds.

Break now getting bottles from the neutral motorcycle as the cars were pulled out of the gap.

25km to go

Bleddyn attacks the break, as they have 24 seconds on the field. 2.5 km to go to the top of Willunga. 

Riders started to fall off the back, after Jayco did an attack that was neutralized.

Bleddyn is persisting on the climb as the other two are dropped on the 3km Willunga Hill which reaches a quad-busting 15.6% maximum gradient, with an average of 7.4%.

Schmid is moving Plapp forwards  with Marriage following closely. Field is lined up.

Main group is thinning out as they reel in Bleddyn and Swift with 1.2km to go to the top.

Harper gives a big acceleration and gets a gap. He quickly looks behind him.  Schmid and Plapp at the front of the peloton. Ineos coming forwards in numbers.

Kwiatkowski covers the attack with Schmid on his wheel. More riders moving up. 

Schmid is chasing his teammate Harper solo with 0.4km to the top. 

Harper has a gap of 25 seconds to the field, and is joined by Schmid just before they crest. 

Schmid goes around Harper and leads him across the KOM line. The duo has 20 seconds.

Hesitation in the field. The move seems to have caught the pack by surprise. Harper was 15 seconds down on GC before the start of the stage, and Schmid was 25 seconds down.

Romo is at the front, looking back and on the radio, looking for assistance to chase the duo.

Schmid and Harper have 16 seconds to the field led by Lidl and UAE.

Jayco duo now have 23 seconds inside of 20km to go. 

Swiss champion Schmid is doing all the driving at the front. Kwiatkowski is chasing solo, 15 seconds behind the duo. 

Movistar organizes at the front of the field to try and reel them back in. 

Gap has blown out to 31 seconds but UAE and Movistar are now cooperating in the chase inside of 17km to go.

Kwiatkowski was reeled back, leaving Schmid and Harper off the front. 

Break is descending at over 90kmph, with a gap of 30 seconds with 14km to go. Schmid is doing most of the work.

It's still a fairly big group in the peloton as they speed down Willunga 

Schmid and Harper now have 25 seconds to go, with 10km to go. 

Many of riders dropped the first time up Willunga are now back in the field, and can help with the chase. 

Left hand turn for the Jayco duo, and now Harper takes the front with 8km to go, and a gap of 20 seconds.

Schmid is back at the front, grimacing and going all in for his teammate

Ineos with 5 riders doing the work at the front, shredding the group to pieces with 6.5km to go. Romo made the split with a teammate.

Around 20 riders in the front split of the peloton as they close the gap to Schmid and Harper. 

Schmid and Harper are reeled in with 5.5km to go. Romo, Pithie, and Woods made the split

Red Bull adding the pace making of the front group. Narvaez has been caught out.

Plapp, Onley, Brennan also missed the split. Fisher-Black made the front group as the second group is single-filed chasing to rejoin.

The gap between the 2 groups is closing but still there as we are about to hit the bottom of the climb. And they are just coming back together.

Movistar back in control at the front with Romo sitting 6th wheel inside of 3km to go 

Romo attacks! Harper is the first rider to give chase.

Romo is opening a gap. 

Red Bull is leading the chase with 2km to go.

Plapp attacks with Narvaez covering. Onley follows as Harper is reeled back in.

Romo is still resisting and has 6 seconds as the riders hesitate behind as to who will chase.

Plapp goes again, marked by Onley. 

Plapp goes against. Onley with Narvaez on his wheel, catches him.

with 1km to go, Romo has 6 seconds, as Plapp, Narvaez and Onley are together behind.

Romo is caught. with 700 metres to go, and Plapp attacks again. Narvaez on his wheel, then Onley and Romo

 Narvaez jumps first and takes the win ahead of Onley. Fisher-Black got third, going around Romo and Plapp. 

Results

Jhonathan Narvaez (UAE Team Emirates XRG) is the King of Willunga.

Let's hear from the stage winner and new race leader Jhonathan Narvaez (UAE Team Emirates XRG) :

“It was a hard day today, the temperature was high. It wasn’t easy. When you start, everyone tell you, you are the favorite, it’s not easy for me, but in the end, we made it.”

About winning after coming so close in 2024. “Of course, it [shows] how is the sport is, you need to keep trying, trying until you win the races.”

About the importance of his team. “Really important. They did an amazing job, everyone and we all deserve it.”

Let's hear from overnight leader Javier Romo (Movistar) who attacked at the bottom of Willunga only to be caught with 700 metres to go.

"It was a difficult day with the wind, also before the last climb, with crosswinds. But I was there in front, and in the final, I attacked three Ks to go and the others were strong and stronger than me."

"My team was perfect. I want to say thank you."

"I’m very happy, I win a stage, I have the jersey two days and I'm very happy.

With one stage to go, Narvaez tops the GC with nine seconds on Romo. Fisher-Black is in third place, 12 seconds down.

Sam Welsford (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) leads the points classification, tied with Narvaez at 60 points. Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) is third, 8 points back. 

Albert Withen Philipsen (Lidl-Trek)  tops the best young rider classification. Zac Marriage (ARA Australia) is second, 15 seconds back, and Pablo Torres (UAE Team Emirates XRG) is a further five seconds in third place.

Fergus Browning (ARA Australia)  leads in the mountains classification.

Chris Harper (Jayco-AlUla) was awarded the most combative prize for his efforts on stage 5.