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2020 Santos Tour Down Under (World Tour), Australia

Stage 4, Friday, January 24, 2020

Back to 2020 Tour Down Under | Tour Down Under Podium History

Friday, January 24: Stage 4, Norwood - Murray Bridge, 152.8 km

Caleb Ewan

Caleb Ewan wins again. Sirotti photo

Weather at the finish city of Murray Bridge at 11:45 AM, local time: 22C (71F), mostly cloudy, with the wind from the west at 19 km/hr (12 mph). No rain is forecast.

The race: Here's the organizer's stage summary.

For the second time in three days, Caleb Ewan has proven why he’s earned a reputation as one of the best sprinters of his generation. He is fast, well-supported, and absolutely determined to give his Lotto Soudal team the rewards it came to Australia for: stage wins. He won in Stirling on Wednesday. And he won again in Murray Bridge on Friday.

“We knew there was going to be a lot of wind once we turned into the flat part in the second half of the course,” Caleb said soon after finishing.

“My team, you probably saw on TV, was always up the front. I was never in trouble and they did such a good job today and that means I had good legs for the finish.

“It was a tight corner into the finish. But, to be honest, I like it when there’s a bit of a corner – or a bit of a technical finish. I just told my last man, Roger [Kluge], to put me on the wheel of Sam Bennett and that’s what he did.”

The 152.8km stage from the Adelaide suburb of Norwood to Murray Bridge is the longest of the 22nd Santos Tour Down Under and it was contested on the same course as what was used for the mass-participation ride, the Westpac Challenge Tour presented by The Advertiser, meaning there were thousands of cyclists clad in the same colour lycra on hand to witness an impressive contest between the two sprinters who have won stages of the TDU this year. Unlike recent years when oppressive heat impacted the number of spectators, conditions were fine, warm but not scorching. Rather, it was the threat of crosswinds on the approach to the finish that made for nervous racing and a few accidents with Australian team pursuit superstar, Kelland O’Brien, one of the riders who lost skin and required X-rays for a suspected fracture to his collarbone.

Other crash victims included Mitch Docker who took a nasty tumble along with a handful of other riders in an incident 7.5km from the line.

The GC favourites and the sprint specialists were all largely unscathed even if some of them had to take evasive action during the rapid approach to Murray Bridge where the speed was up around 60km/h.

“I was off the road a little bit actually with a kilometre to go,” confessed the stage winner, Ewan, “but luckily he was still there and he got me on the wheel and I was where I wanted to be in that last corner.”

There is another sprint expected in 100% Stage 5 when Richie Porte will become the first man in 2020 to wear the Santos Ochre Leader’s Jersey for more than a day. He lost some of his advantage over the rider ranked second on GC, Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-SCOTT) – who is now just three seconds shy of the Tasmanian from Trek-Segafredo.

Although we saw what something of a tradition is early in the stage – i.e. an attack by Astana’s Belgian Laurens De Vreese – the peloton signalled its intent: no escape would be allowed any leeway until after the Ziptrak Sprints were contested. The points may be appealing to a select few who are vying for the sprint jersey, but the real impetus to keep things together until the 40.3km mark was that time bonuses were on offer.

At the first Ziptrak Sprint, at Cudlee Creek (18.1km) it was the runner-up from Ziptrak Stage 1, Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates) leading the world champion, and team-mate of the race leader Richie Porte, Mads Pedersen over the line. Then came Impey, who earned third place and wiped one second off his deficit to Porte.

Once the bonuses were absorbed, a break was allowed some freedom and again we saw Joey Rosskopf (CCC Team) on the move. He was joined by four others including two from Movistar: Jorge Arcas and Sergio Samitier, as well as James Piccoli (Israel Start-Up Nation) and… yep, you guessed it: Laurens De Vreese (Astana).

The five stage leaders worked up a lead of 2:30 together and, as expected, in the kilometre leading to the line for climbing points, Rosskopf set off with an attack to ensure he was first over Lead Prospect Hill. De Vreese, ranked fourth in the Subaru King of the Mountains classification, was second.

Complete Results:

Stage 4 photos

152.8 kilometers raced at an average speed of 43.838 km/hr

1	EWAN Caleb	Lotto-Soudal	3hr 29min 8sec
2	BENNETT Sam	Deceuninck-Quick Step	s.t.
3	PHILIPSEN Jasper	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
4	GREIPEL André	Israel Start-Up Nation	s.t.
5	DAINESE Alberto	Team Sunweb	s.t.
6	LAAS Martin	Bora-hansgrohe	s.t.
7	NIZZOLO Giacomo	NTT Pro Cycling	s.t.
8	BASKA Erik	Bora-hansgrohe	s.t.
9	SARREAU Marc	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
10	MORKOV Michael	Deceuninck-Quick Step	s.t.
11	ROELANDTS Jürgen	Movistar	s.t.
12	ULISSI Diego	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
13	VENDRAME Andrea	Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
14	DRIZNERS Jarrad	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
15	HALVORSEN Kristoffer	EF Pro Cycling	s.t.
16	ROOSEN Timo	Jumbo-Visma	s.t.
17	IMPEY Daryl	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
18	WELSFORD Sam	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
19	VAN BAARLE Dylan	Team INEOS	s.t.
20	ZABEL Rick	Israel Start-Up Nation	s.t.
21	BYSTROM Sven	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
22	MAS Lluís	Movistar	s.t.
23	DENNIS Rohan	Team INEOS	s.t.
24	SANCHEZ Luis León	Astana	s.t.
25	VIVIANI Elia	Cofidis	s.t.
26	FELLINE Fabio	Astana	s.t.
27	BENNETT George	Jumbo-Visma	s.t.
28	POWLESS Neilson	EF Pro Cycling	s.t.
29	HAAS Nathan	Cofidis	s.t.
30	BUITRAGO Santiago	Bahrain-McLaren	s.t.
31	MARCATO Marco	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
32	WYSS Danilo	NTT Pro Cycling	s.t.
33	SIVAKOV Pavel	Team INEOS	s.t.
34	VENTOSO Francisco	CCC Team	s.t.
35	GESCHKE Simon	CCC Team	s.t.
36	WARBASSE Larry	Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
37	PORTE Richie	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
38	VAN KEIRSBULCK Guillaume	CCC Team	s.t.
39	POWER Robert	Team Sunweb	s.t.
40	YATES Simon	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
41	STORK Florian	Team Sunweb	s.t.
42	HARPER Chris	Jumbo-Visma	s.t.
43	HEPBURN Michael	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
44	PERNSTEINER Hermann	Bahrain-McLaren	s.t.
45	HAMILTON Lucas	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
46	DEVENYNS Dries	Deceuninck-Quick Step	s.t.
47	GIBBONS Ryan	NTT Pro Cycling	s.t.
48	BATTISTELLA Samuele	NTT Pro Cycling	s.t.
49	WISNIOWSKI Lukasz	CCC Team	s.t.
50	HINDLEY Jai	Team Sunweb	s.t.
51	DE BOD Stefan	NTT Pro Cycling	s.t.
52	BJERG Mikkel	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
53	ROSSKOPF Joey	CCC Team	s.t.
54	LAWLESS Chris	Team INEOS	s.t.
55	CHEVRIER Clément	Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
56	ARASHIRO Yukiya	Bahrain-McLaren	s.t.
57	CERNY Josef	CCC Team	s.t.
58	PICCOLI James	Israel Start-Up Nation	s.t.
59	PIBERNIK Luka	Bahrain-McLaren	s.t.
60	CATTANEO Mattia	Deceuninck-Quick Step	s.t.
61	CULLAIGH Gabriel	Movistar	s.t.
62	GASTAUER Ben	Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
63	FRANKINY Kilian	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
64	LAENGEN Vegard	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
65	FRAILE Omar	Astana	s.t.
66	DOMONT Axel	Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
67	HOLMES Matthew	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
68	BARDET Romain	Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
69	STORER Michael	Team Sunweb	s.t.
70	ARCAS Jorge	Movistar	s.t.
71	PRADES Eduard	Movistar	s.t.
72	ARMIRAIL Bruno	Groupama-FDJ	@ 13sec
73	SCOTSON Miles	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
74	ELISSONDE Kenny	Trek-Segafredo	0:15
75	CONSONNI Simone	Cofidis	s.t.
76	FOMINYKH Daniil	Astana	s.t.
77	GOLDSTEIN Omer	Israel Start-Up Nation	s.t.
78	BAUER Jack	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
79	SABATINI Fabio	Cofidis	s.t.
80	VAN DER HOORN Taco	Jumbo-Visma	0:22
81	BOUCHARD Geoffrey	Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
82	GUARNIERI Jacopo	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
83	BOARO Manuele	Astana	s.t.
84	HOLLMANN Juri	Movistar	s.t.
85	HALLER Marco	Bahrain-McLaren	0:30
86	TILLER Rasmus	NTT Pro Cycling	s.t.
87	LOPEZ Juan	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
88	SCOTT Cameron	UniSA-Australia	0:36
89	KANTER Max	Team Sunweb	s.t.
90	SCHWARZMANN Michael	Bora-hansgrohe	0:42
91	SCULLY Tom	EF Pro Cycling	s.t.
92	VAN DER SANDE Tosh	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
93	MEYER Cameron	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
94	LINDEMAN Bert-Jan	Jumbo-Visma	0:48
95	DOULL Owain	Team INEOS	0:52
96	TOLHOEK Antwan	Jumbo-Visma	s.t.
97	KLUGE Roger	Lotto-Soudal	0:56
98	MATHIS Marco	Cofidis	0:59
99	VANBILSEN Kenneth	Cofidis	s.t.
100	DURBRIDGE Luke	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
101	DELAGE Mickaël	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
102	RUTSCH Jonas	EF Pro Cycling	s.t.
103	STANNARD Ian	Team INEOS	s.t.
104	ARCHBOLD Shane	Deceuninck-Quick Step	s.t.
105	WHITE Nicholas	UniSA-Australia	1:04
106	NOVAK Domen	Bahrain-McLaren	s.t.
107	LIENHARD Fabian	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
108	DE KORT Koen	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
109	KEISSE Iljo	Deceuninck-Quick Step	s.t.
110	MCCARTHY Jay	Bora-hansgrohe	s.t.
111	JENNER Samuel	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
112	DOWSETT Alex	Israel Start-Up Nation	1:11
113	BOIVIN Guillaume	Israel Start-Up Nation	s.t.
114	LE TURNIER Mathias	Cofidis	1:13
115	ROWE Luke	Team INEOS	1:29
116	KEUKELEIRE Jens	EF Pro Cycling	1:38
117	HANSEN Adam	Lotto-Soudal	1:46
118	SCHELLING Ide	Bora-hansgrohe	1:48
119	SAGAN Juraj	Bora-hansgrohe	1:50
120	BENEDETTI Cesare	Bora-hansgrohe	s.t.
121	REIJNEN Kiel	Trek-Segafredo	1:57
122	PEDERSEN Mads	Trek-Segafredo	2:00
123	HOFSTEDE Lennard	Jumbo-Visma	2:03
124	DIBBEN Jonathan	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
125	GRUZDEV Dmitriy	Astana	2:06
126	KRAGH ANDERSEN Asbjørn	Team Sunweb	2:28
127	ALMEIDA Joao	Deceuninck-Quick Step	2:29
128	SUNDERLAND Dylan	NTT Pro Cycling	s.t.
129	MORTON Lachlan	EF Pro Cycling	3:58
130	RIES Michel	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
131	DE GENDT Thomas	Lotto-Soudal	5:53
132	SAMITIER Sergio	Movistar	s.t.
133	DE VREESE Laurens	Astana	s.t.
134	SAJNOK Szymon	CCC Team	7:03
135	DOCKER Mitchell	EF Pro Cycling	8:28

GC after stage 4:

569.6 kilometers raced so far at an average speed of 41.693 km/hr

1	PORTE Richie	Trek-Segafredo	13hr 39min 32sec
2	IMPEY Daryl	Mitchelton-Scott	@ 3sec
3	POWER Robert	Team Sunweb	0:08
4	YATES Simon	Mitchelton-Scott	0:11
5	BENNETT George	Jumbo-Visma	0:14
6	ULISSI Diego	UAE-Team Emirates	0:15
7	GESCHKE Simon	CCC Team	s.t.
8	DENNIS Rohan	Team INEOS	s.t.
9	VAN BAARLE Dylan	Team INEOS	s.t.
10	HAMILTON Lucas	Mitchelton-Scott	0:23
11	BYSTROM Sven	UAE-Team Emirates	0:25
12	DEVENYNS Dries	Deceuninck-Quick Step	s.t.
13	PERNSTEINER Hermann	Bahrain-McLaren	s.t.
14	CATTANEO Mattia	Deceuninck-Quick Step	s.t.
15	PRADES Eduard	Movistar	s.t.
16	HAAS Nathan	Cofidis	0:28
17	POWLESS Neilson	EF Pro Cycling	0:33
18	SIVAKOV Pavel	Team INEOS	s.t.
19	BUITRAGO Santiago	Bahrain-McLaren	s.t.
20	HARPER Chris	Jumbo-Visma	s.t.
21	HINDLEY Jai	Team Sunweb	s.t.
22	FRANKINY Kilian	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
23	SANCHEZ Luis León	Astana	0:37
24	FRAILE Omar	Astana	s.t.
25	DRIZNERS Jarrad	UniSA-Australia	0:41
26	STORER Michael	Team Sunweb	s.t.
27	VENDRAME Andrea	Ag2r La Mondiale	0:44
28	FELLINE Fabio	Astana	s.t.
29	MAS Lluís	Movistar	s.t.
30	ARASHIRO Yukiya	Bahrain-McLaren	s.t.
31	CHEVRIER Clément	Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
32	STORK Florian	Team Sunweb	s.t.
33	GIBBONS Ryan	NTT Pro Cycling	s.t.
34	HOLMES Matthew	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
35	PICCOLI James	Israel Start-Up Nation	0:56
36	ROSSKOPF Joey	CCC Team	s.t.
37	WISNIOWSKI Lukasz	CCC Team	1:00
38	ZABEL Rick	Israel Start-Up Nation	s.t.
39	ARCAS Jorge	Movistar	1:04
40	BOARO Manuele	Astana	1:06
41	WYSS Danilo	NTT Pro Cycling	1:08
42	ARMIRAIL Bruno	Groupama-FDJ	1:17
43	GREIPEL André	Israel Start-Up Nation	1:20
44	ROELANDTS Jürgen	Movistar	1:31
45	TOLHOEK Antwan	Jumbo-Visma	1:36
46	MARCATO Marco	UAE-Team Emirates	1:37
47	WARBASSE Larry	Ag2r La Mondiale	1:59
48	CERNY Josef	CCC Team	s.t.
49	EWAN Caleb	Lotto-Soudal	2:09
50	MEYER Cameron	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
51	ELISSONDE Kenny	Trek-Segafredo	2:16
52	ROOSEN Timo	Jumbo-Visma	2:29
53	PIBERNIK Luka	Bahrain-McLaren	s.t.
54	LAENGEN Vegard	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
55	LOPEZ Juan	Trek-Segafredo	2:31
56	PHILIPSEN Jasper	UAE-Team Emirates	2:34
57	SCOTSON Miles	Groupama-FDJ	2:38
58	KEUKELEIRE Jens	EF Pro Cycling	2:40
59	BARDET Romain	Ag2r La Mondiale	2:48
60	HOLLMANN Juri	Movistar	2:51
61	BENEDETTI Cesare	Bora-hansgrohe	3:32
62	HEPBURN Michael	Mitchelton-Scott	3:36
63	VAN DER SANDE Tosh	Lotto-Soudal	3:44
64	CULLAIGH Gabriel	Movistar	4:09
65	VENTOSO Francisco	CCC Team	4:20
66	HALVORSEN Kristoffer	EF Pro Cycling	4:43
67	HALLER Marco	Bahrain-McLaren	4:47
68	KANTER Max	Team Sunweb	5:00
69	MORKOV Michael	Deceuninck-Quick Step	5:09
70	BENNETT Sam	Deceuninck-Quick Step	5:20
71	HANSEN Adam	Lotto-Soudal	5:22
72	DE BOD Stefan	NTT Pro Cycling	5:23
73	LIENHARD Fabian	Groupama-FDJ	5:28
74	HOFSTEDE Lennard	Jumbo-Visma	5:39
75	FOMINYKH Daniil	Astana	5:56
76	BATTISTELLA Samuele	NTT Pro Cycling	5:58
77	TILLER Rasmus	NTT Pro Cycling	6:01
78	SARREAU Marc	Groupama-FDJ	6:36
79	GASTAUER Ben	Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
80	VIVIANI Elia	Cofidis	6:44
81	KLUGE Roger	Lotto-Soudal	6:45
82	SUNDERLAND Dylan	NTT Pro Cycling	6:51
83	CONSONNI Simone	Cofidis	6:59
84	SAMITIER Sergio	Movistar	s.t.
85	LE TURNIER Mathias	Cofidis	7:26
86	DURBRIDGE Luke	Mitchelton-Scott	8:00
87	JENNER Samuel	UniSA-Australia	8:13
88	ALMEIDA Joao	Deceuninck-Quick Step	8:34
89	BJERG Mikkel	UAE-Team Emirates	8:55
90	VAN KEIRSBULCK Guillaume	CCC Team	8:57
91	DE KORT Koen	Trek-Segafredo	9:04
92	ARCHBOLD Shane	Deceuninck-Quick Step	9:37
93	DOULL Owain	Team INEOS	9:43
94	RUTSCH Jonas	EF Pro Cycling	9:55
95	DAINESE Alberto	Team Sunweb	10:13
96	DOMONT Axel	Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
97	GUARNIERI Jacopo	Groupama-FDJ	10:14
98	BOUCHARD Geoffrey	Ag2r La Mondiale	10:17
99	NIZZOLO Giacomo	NTT Pro Cycling	10:22
100	BAUER Jack	Mitchelton-Scott	10:24
101	STANNARD Ian	Team INEOS	10:37
102	GRUZDEV Dmitriy	Astana	10:50
103	SCHELLING Ide	Bora-hansgrohe	10:51
104	SCOTT Cameron	UniSA-Australia	10:54
105	SAGAN Juraj	Bora-hansgrohe	11:17
106	WELSFORD Sam	UniSA-Australia	11:18
107	VAN DER HOORN Taco	Jumbo-Visma	11:22
108	DOWSETT Alex	Israel Start-Up Nation	11:45
109	VANBILSEN Kenneth	Cofidis	11:46
110	GOLDSTEIN Omer	Israel Start-Up Nation	11:51
111	LAAS Martin	Bora-hansgrohe	12:09
112	SAJNOK Szymon	CCC Team	12:26
113	SCHWARZMANN Michael	Bora-hansgrohe	12:39
114	LAWLESS Chris	Team INEOS	12:44
115	KRAGH ANDERSEN Asbjørn	Team Sunweb	s.t.
116	LINDEMAN Bert-Jan	Jumbo-Visma	13:00
117	NOVAK Domen	Bahrain-McLaren	13:02
118	DIBBEN Jonathan	Lotto-Soudal	13:16
119	MCCARTHY Jay	Bora-hansgrohe	13:48
120	WHITE Nicholas	UniSA-Australia	13:57
121	REIJNEN Kiel	Trek-Segafredo	14:29
122	BOIVIN Guillaume	Israel Start-Up Nation	14:42
123	SCULLY Tom	EF Pro Cycling	14:49
124	ROWE Luke	Team INEOS	14:52
125	RIES Michel	Trek-Segafredo	15:03
126	MATHIS Marco	Cofidis	15:12
127	DE GENDT Thomas	Lotto-Soudal	16:32
128	MORTON Lachlan	EF Pro Cycling	17:44
129	BASKA Erik	Bora-hansgrohe	18:59
130	PEDERSEN Mads	Trek-Segafredo	19:22
131	KEISSE Iljo	Deceuninck-Quick Step	19:32
132	SABATINI Fabio	Cofidis	20:46
133	DE VREESE Laurens	Astana	21:12
134	DOCKER Mitchell	EF Pro Cycling	21:32
135	DELAGE Mickaël	Groupama-FDJ	23:37