Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) rocketed past Deceuninck-Quickstep’s Sam Bennett to grab is second stage victory at the Tour Down Under. Richie Porte retains the ochre jersey for Trek-Segafredo but his lead is cut in half to three seconds as Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) grabbed time at both intermediate sprints.

Stage 4: Norwood to Murray Bridge 152.8km

Swirling winds in the last part of the race made it a tense day for the peloton. The victory itself all came down to a final tight corner with 300m to go. Deceuninck-Quickstep bossed the lead out battle into it placing Bennett in prime position for the run to the line. They did everything right, but there was nothing they could about the sheer speed of Ewan.

I sense Bennett plus the Quickstepper train verses the speed of Ewan is going to be a season-long discussion… and will be particularly pertinent at the Tour de France.  If Cofidis and Elia Viviani click it will be even more interesting. I do love sprint conundrum.

Bonifications

Can’t you just hear the inimitable Sean Kelly saying this word?

I mean seriously, I searched ‘Sean Kelly bonifications’ on twitter for an audio clip of the great man’s pronunciation. I failed, but just look at all the the bonification love from cycling fans.

*cough* anyway back to the racing Midge!!!

With time so tight at the top of the leaderboard, the GC guys were primed and ready to scrap for every second they could lay their hands on. No break was allowed to go until after the intermediate sprints.  Mitchelton-Scott obviously had a plan for Daryl Impey, and by and large they succeeded with 3 seconds gained.

Trek-Segafredo limited their losses with some gusto.

Podium and Jerseys

Full race report from Cycling News 

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