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Tour Down Under 2014: stage five – five observations

Reflections on an exhilarating fifth stage of the WorldTour season's opener


Sky patrol

The Tour Down Under has been a happy hunting ground for Team Sky. The team began its competitive existence in Adelaide in 2010, with Chris Sutton leading home Greg Henderson for a one-two finish on stage six. Since then, the British team has enjoyed further victories, and only by its own towering standards – victories in almost every other prestigious, week-long stage race and two Tour de France triumphs in consecutive years – could its performance at the Tour Down Under be considered a work in progress.

Richie Porte thanked Geraint Thomas and Ian Stannard after winning stage five. He will rely again on their diesel power if he is to contend for overall victory. pic: ©Sirotti

Tomorrow, Dave Brailsford’s men will begin the day with a  realistic chance of securing overall victory for Richie Porte. The Tasmanian is unlikely to be able to make his own luck on a flat parcours, but with backing from the likes of Eisel, Rowe, Stannard, and Thomas, he will not lack the diesel power to haul him into contention. Lesser teams may consider the battle for overall victory now to be a two-horse race, but this is not the mentality of the British-registered squad. They will seek to make gains, marginal and emphatic, to eradicate the 10-second gap between Porte and Gerrans. The challenge is great, but Team Sky is a winning machine. It will need to be at its most brutally efficient tomorrow.

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