Reports

Tour Down Under 2016: Simon Gerrans extends overall lead on stage four

Australian makes it back-to-back stage wins to strengthen grip on ochre jersey

Race leader Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEDGE) sealed back-to-back stage wins at the Tour Down Under with sprint success in Victor Harbor to extend his overall advantage.

Stage three winner Gerrans profited from a great lead-out from Daryl Impey to outsprint Ben Swift (Team Sky) and claim the full ten bonus seconds at the finish line.

Having also bagged bonus seconds at an intermediate sprint earlier in the race, Gerrans now leads by 14 seconds from Tinkoff’s Jay McCarthy with the climb of Willunga Hill awaiting on stage five.

The Australian three-time champion’s hopes of a fourth win were also boosted by a late split in the peloton costing Richie Porte (BMC Racing) another eight seconds, leaving just six riders within 30 seconds of the ochre jersey ahead of the queen stage.

Simon Gerrans outsprinted Ben Swift to make it two stage wins from two (pic: Sirotti)

Stage four started frantically, with the early climb of Norton Summit catching some riders out, before several riders tried to form the day’s breakaway.

Thomas de Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Alessandro de Marchi (BMC Racing) and Lieuwe Westra (Astana) were among the power-houses to go clear, but Orica-GreenEDGE gave them no leeway as they targeted maximum bonifications at the intermediate sprint.

The Australian team’s plan worked, as Gerrans beat McCarthy to the three seconds on offer, with the Tinkoff man having to settle for two seconds and Impey snatching the third.

David Tanner (IAM Cycling), Pat Shaw (UniSA-Australia) and Alexis Gougeard (Ag2r-La Mondiale) eventually forged clear and stretched their advantage to well above five minutes, but Orica-GreenEDGE remained in control.

BMC Racing and Tinkoff also helped to drive up the pace, the end result being all three swept up with 24km still to race.

Sergio Henao (Team Sky), in the King of the Mountains jersey, bagged maximum points on the Port Elliot climb before a crash with 18km to go trimmed the front group down again.

Westra and Jesus Herrada (Movistar) both made short-lived solo attacks, but Sky took charge on the front and led through the technical finale as they looked to set up Swift.

Impey pulled clear with Gerrans on his wheel as they hit the final straight though, with Swift sitting behind former Sky team-mate Gerrans.

McCarthy and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) accelerated on the other side of the road, but when Gerrans opened up his sprint he could not be stopped for the second consecutive day.

With Rohan Dennis at 26 seconds overall, and Henao one of four riders a further 28 seconds back, Gerrans knows he now needs to just ride safe on Willunga Hill to close in on yet another Tour Down Under victory.

Gerrans now boasts a 14-second overall lead ahead of the stage five and Willunga Hill (pic: Sirotti)

Tour Down Under 2016: stage four – result

1) Simon Gerrans (AUS) – Orica-GreenEDGE – 3.13.59hrs
2) Ben Swift (GBR) – Team Sky – ST
3) Giacomo Nizzolo (ITA) – Trek-Segafredo
4) Jay McCarthy (AUS) – Tinkoff
5) Leigh Howard (AUS) – IAM Cycling
6) Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (RSA) – Team Dimension Data
7) Sergey Lagutin (RUS) – Katusha
8) Alexey Tsatevich (RUS) – Katusha
9) Nathan Haas (AUS) – Team Dimension Data
10) Enrico Battaglin (ITA) – LottoNL-Jumbo

General classification

1) Simon Gerrans (AUS) – Orica-GreenEDGE – 13.41.58hrs
2) Jay McCarthy (AUS) – Tinkoff +14”
3) Rohan Dennis (AUS) – BMC Racing +26”
4) Sergio Henao (COL) – Team Sky +28”
5) Steve Morabito (SUI) – FDJ – ST
6) Ruben Fernandez (ESP) – Movistar
7) Domenico Pozzovivo (ITA) – Ag2r-La Mondiale
8) Michael Woods (CAN) – Cannondale +32”
9) Rafael Valls (ESP) – Lotto-Soudal +36”
10) Riche Porte (AUS) – BMC Racing – ST