After coming so close last year, Jhonathan Narvaez (UAE Team Emirates XRG) timed his uphill sprint perfectly to win atop Willunga Hill on stage 5 and secure the leader’s jersey and probably the overall victory of the Tour Down Under.
Narvaez stayed calm after a flurry of attacks flew from the decimated peloton the second time up the iconic climb including a solo flyer from the overnight leader Javier Romo (Movistar) on the lower slope. Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla) gave chase with Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) and Narvaez on his wheel as Romo pushed on, still having six seconds with one kilometre to go.
The four men came together in the next 300 metres with Plapp at the front leading the group for the small group sprint. Narvaez jumped first with 200 metres to go, and easily held off Onley, the 2024 winner on Willunga. Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) caught the group at the finish line to take third ahead of Plapp who was fourth. Romo finished fifth.
Narvaez takes over the lead in the general classification by virtue of the 10 seconds time bonus for the stage winner.
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The first major attack for the stage victory came from Jayco-AlUla teammates Chris Harper and Mauro Schmid, who broke away on the first ascent of Willunga. Their bold strategy caught the reduced peloton off guard, allowing the duo to build a maximum lead of 25 seconds before being reeled in with 5.5 kilometres remaining.
The chase led by the Ineos Grenadiers team splintered the peloton into two groups, leaving several contenders scrambling to rejoin the front group, which included Narváez, Romo, and Fisher-Black. The two groups came back together just before Romo launched his attack.
“Of course, it [shows] how is the sport is, you need to keep trying, trying until you win the races,” said Narvaez who was only nine seconds from the race winner last year.
“It was a hard day today, the temperature was high. It wasn’t easy. When you start, everyone tell you, you are the favourite, it’s not easy for me, but in the end, we made it.”
Narvaez who read all the moves correctly and chose when to follow attacks, added, “I was in the split when Ineos made the crosswinds so I was really calm until I start the climb.”
“I think you have to be smart in that kind of situation. I will follow him if he’s a big group, but him alone, no,” he said about Romo’s attack. “He’s a really strong guy. Chapeau.”
“I tried. I know that my sprint is not so good, but I tried to attack when the second group was behind, because I thought it’s possible that Narvaez is not in a good position. I tried – it’s possible that it was too early. I lost the GC, but I’m very happy with second,” Romo told Cycling News.
Narvaez tops the general classification with nine seconds on Romo, and 12 seconds on Fisher-Black. Barring catastrophe on Sunday’s final stage, Narvaez, the 2024 runner-up, will be the overall winner of the 25th edition of the stage race.
The Tour Down Under will end on Sunday with a flat, fast 90km stage 6 in Adelaide with one climb that will hardly worry the sprinters.
How it unfolded
The suspense was high as riders lined up in McLaren Vale for the penultimate stage of the men’s Tour Down Under, given this was the last gasp for the overall contenders and also contained the summit finish every budding Australian cyclist wants to win.
But before the riders could battle it out on the final finish line of Willunga after 145.7km of racing there were some extra challenges to deal with. They included an early break of six that included Pablo Torres (UAE Team Emirates -XRG) who was only 35 seconds back on the overall and then there was no small matter of Wickham HIll to deal with.
The breakaway group which also included Oliver Bleddyn (ARA Australia), Michael Hepburn (Jayco-AlUla). Pascal Eenkhoorn (Soudal-Quickstep), Ben Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) and Juan Lopez (Lidl-Trek) worked hard to shake the GC danger on the run toward the climb which would deliver the first King of the Mountain points of the day at just 21.5km into the day of racing. They ultimately dispatched Torres and also Lopez. Torres was then swept up by the peloton while Lopez battled on to try and bridge the gap, spending plenty of energy in the long chase.
By the time the lead group of four had passed over the top of Willunga – which they would first descend before sweeping back at the end of the day to climb it twice – the gap had stretched significantly. Swift, Eenkhoorn, Hepburn and Bleddyn who were on the flat in Willunga well before the peloton began the descent and continued to stretch the gap.
The descent wasn’t without its drama, although much more was still to unfold on Willunga Hill later in the day, as Chris Harper (Jayco-AlUla), stage 1 and 2 winner Sam Welsford (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Loe van Belle (Visma-Lease a Bike) fell. Luke Durbridge (Jayco-AlUla) was quickly on hand to pace Harper back to the group, with the climber the team’s top rider on GC at the start of the day.
Into the flatter sections of the race, the lead group had stretched the gap out to 4:20 by the time there were 95km to go. Not able to make the catch, Lopez sat up with 89km to go, taking in the ocean views on the 30°C as the race headed toward Port Willunga and refuelling before being absorbed back into the peloton.
Round past the sparkling blue waters and Aldinga for a second time, and with 48km to go the gap was at 2:44, the heat not yet completely on in the field but with the temperature rising as teams started to anticipate the climbs of Willunga Hill – a 3km ascent with an average gradient of 7.4% and a maximum of 11%.
At 26km to go, the gap was just 49 seconds and it was also only three up the front as Hepburn had decided it was now time for him to sit up and turn his attention to the team goals. As the race hit the base of the climb for the first time, Bleddyn tried to ride away from his remaining break companions but with little more than 1km to go to the top of the initial ascent, they were swept up. The teams were attempting to fire early volleys, with Jayco-AlUla getting two riders off the front, Chris Harper and Mauro Schmid going over the top of the iconic climb ten seconds in front of the stretched-out but still well-populated group behind.
There were splits aplenty on the aggressive final run into the climb, with Schmid and Harper swept up. It didn’t take long for the big move to come, and from none other than the ochre jersey clad, Javier Romo (Movistar). He was living by the ethos that the best form of defence was attack as he went at the very base of the 3km ascent.
The pursuit, however, was on. Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla) was among those leading the chase at around 2km to go, though he had passengers. They pulled Romo back into the fold but with a fierce turn of speed and at just four seconds back on GC, Narvaez was now looking like the most dangerous rider in the small group heading to the line and he played his hand to perfection and now, as a result, looks set to ride away from Australia with ochre on his back.
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