Peter Sagan wins Tour Down Under stage four and claims overall lead

Peter Sagan managed to stay with the general classification contenders over Norton Summit and beat Daryl Impey in the sprint to the line to claim his first win of the season and the ochre jersey on stage four of the Tour Down Under.

Peter Sagan shows his strength to beat the climbers to victory
on stage four
Picture credit: VeloNews.com
Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) used Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) as a lead-out man in the final few hundred metres, before powering past the South African for the stage win and the overall race lead.

Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) and Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) came third and fourth.

 Sagan was pleased to get his first win of the season: "For sure it's very nice. I already won the criterium. Everyday it's a different winner which is good for the race and also good for the organisation."

 Sagan effectively ruled him out going for the overall victory tomorrow, with McCarthy being more suited to the decisive climb of Willunga Hill: "For sure we all know why we are here, for Jay. It's a big race, his home race, and for sure tomorrow it's a much harder stage than today."

The Race

The weather warnings from yesterday remained in place, causing the race organisers to bring the 128.2km race from Norwood to Uraidla an hour forward in the hope of avoiding the savage midday temperatures.

Even with an earlier start time it was 44 degrees when the breakaway left the peloton, with two riders from wildcard team, UniSA, Zak Dempster and Alex Porter, forging ahead on a day that nobody wanted to work harder than they had to in the cauldron-like heat.

The peloton had no interest in keeping the break within a reasonable distance and by the time Dempster and Porter reached the first intermediate sprint at Birdwood, the gap was nine minutes and 30-seconds.

There was action at the head of the peloton when they eventually reached Birdwood, with Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) earning the third place points and bonus seconds as he looked to claim the green sprinters jersey by right.

Viviani put his team in charge at the front of the peloton to secure the second intermediate sprint, which he duly did, but there was so little interest from the bunch that the trio of Quick-Step riders had to slow down after putting distance between themselves and the group. 

Onto the vicious sting in the tail of Norton Summit and the GC teams assumed control, with Astana, EF Education First-Drapac and BMC all positioning a rider on the front of the peloton.

The pace set by Simon Gerrans (BMC) and the heat was causing far too much suffering for the vast majority of the field, with over 100 riders dropping of the back as the climb began and leaving around 40 riders in the main peloton.

BMC hadn't perhaps done the amount of damage they were intending over the summit of Norton Summit, with a large group of riders still in touch as they began the tricky, undulating 6km descent towards the finish in Uraidla.

Richie Porte (BMC) showed he's in good shape for the climb of Willunga Hill tomorrow, pushed on the front of the group with 1km to go with Sanchez on his wheel and Sagan just behind.

Porte's foray was over when Brendan Canty (EF Education First-Drapac) and Laurent Didier (Trek Segafredo) came up the inside with their own pursuit for victory.

Round the outside of the final bend came Impey followed by Sagan, with the world champion latching onto the South African's wheel. Sagan wasn't content cruising behind the Mitchelton-Scott man though, and powered past in the final hundred metres. 

Stage Result

1. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe)
2. Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott)
3. Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana)
4. Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates)
5. Jay McCarthy (Bora-Hansgrohe)
6. Dries Devenyns (Quick-Step Floors)
7. Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida)
8. Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates)
9. Pierre Latour (AG2R La Mondiale)
10. Laurent Didier (Trek Segafredo)

General Classification

1. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) in 14:19:49
2. Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) at 2"
3. Jay McCarthy (Bora-Hansgrohe) at 9"
4. Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) at 10"
5. Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) at 14"
6. Robert Gesink (Lotto NL-Jumbo) at 14"
7. Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) at 14"
8. George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) at 14"
9. Dries Devenyns (Quick-Step Floors) at 14"
10. Egan Bernal (Team Sky) at 14"


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