Final KM: Santos Tour Down Under Stage 5

The Willunga Queen stage. Let’s get down to it.

Stage 5: McLaren Vale to Willunga Hill, 151.5km

BMC’s Richie Porte conjured up that old Willunga magic to make his 5th consecutive victory salute atop the famous climb. The Tassie tyro kicked once, kicked twice and rode all his competitors off his wheel as they battled a fierce headwind. However, as the camera switched between Porte at the front and race leader Peter Sagan (BORA-hansgrohe) at the back, we missed the GC topping move from Mitchelton-SCOTT’s Daryl Impey who raced over the line to grab second place and the overall lead on countback. Tom-Jelte Slagter (Dimension Data – I’m NEVER going to remember that transfer) rounded out the Queen stage podium.

Video… I’ve posted the race finish for the excitement of Willunga as well as the official highlights.

#TDU: How good does that feel! 😁🧡🧡 @darylimpey pic.twitter.com/5bHQznjEw9

— Mitchelton-SCOTT (@MitcheltonSCOTT) January 20, 2018

For those who like the rules…

Here's the UCI rule the governs countbacks if riders are tied on GC. #TDU has no prologue/ITT so winner is rider with lowest total of stage finishes. Impey with lower total than Porte (thanks to three second-place finishes). pic.twitter.com/cjiG33S5p9

— CyclingTips (@cyclingtips) January 20, 2018

When the wind blows…

Who say’s the Tour Down Under isn’t good preparation for the Belgian Classics. Here’s EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale putting it in the gutter and causing chaos right before Willunga

#TDU Un tirón de EFD está ocasionando abanicos en el grupo principal, que ya dio caza a De Gendt. Los MOV, en la segunda mitad de dicho pelotón. 6 km a meta; a punto de iniciar la subida final. pic.twitter.com/5TXhN2r4vf

— Movistar Team (@Movistar_Team) January 20, 2018

King(s) of the Mountain…

While Richie definitely deserves his title of the King of Willunga, today saw the first breakaway of 2018 for Lotto-Soudal’s Thomas de Gendt. King of the Tour Down Under mountains in 2017, the Belgian rode clear with his polka dot heir apparent Nickolas Dlamini (Dimension Data) on the first ascent of the climb. De Gendt rode on solo to take the most competitive rider prize and Dlamini amassed an unassailable lead in the 2018 competition. Way to go VeloVoices #youngdude.

Embed from Getty Images

While we’re talking about young professional riders making their debut, how about Team Sky’s young Colombian Egan Arley Bernal! What a ride, I can’t put it any better than this…

Egan Bernal proves his huge talent once again. Seemed to be caught a little by surprise when Porte first kicked and that cost him the podium. Fighting in the headwind alone against a group behind was just too much. But he’s obviously ready to take on 2018! #tdu

— Mikkel Condé v2.0 (@mrconde) January 20, 2018

REPORT: @Eganbernal impresses on Willunga and moves up to sixth overall at #TDU.

📝 > https://t.co/luK0wqzTwJ pic.twitter.com/JcmZL3btkF

— Team Sky (@TeamSky) January 20, 2018

Full report at Cycling News.

Race Website Race Twitter #TDU