Porte wins on Willunga as Impey takes lead

Adelaide : Richie Porte (BMC Racing) won the Willunga Hill stage of the Tour Down Under for the fifth year in succession but narrowly missed out on the leader’s jersey after a late fightback from Daryl Impey (Mitchelton Scott).

Porte distanced his rivals with two searing attacks and secured the stage win but Impey paced himself up the final climb, coming past a number of challengers – to take second on the stage. 

He finished eight seconds back and did enough to take the leader’s jersey on countback from Porte. 

Tom-Jelte Slagter (Dimension Data) finished third on the stage and now sits third overall with one stage remaining. 

Overnight leader, Peter Sagan, cracked on the lower slopes of the climb and dropped down the GC.

“”I tell you what that was the hardest one to win so far,” Porte said.

The stage came alive just before the climb when EF-Education First accelerated in the crosswinds just before the final climb. 

The move split the peloton and BMC Racing briefly looked in disarray with Porte scrambling at the back of the reduced peloton as his team failed to manage the situation at first. 

They regained control before the road kicked up and Rohan Dennis was put to work on the lower slopes of Willunga as the riders faced a stiff headwind.