Darryl Impey of Mitchelton-Scott took the victory on
the fourth stage of the Santos Tour Down Under.
CCC Polish Team’s Paddy Bevin who was in the ochre
jersey again for a 129km stage from Unley, over the Corkscrew climb and into
Campeltown.
On a much cooler day, the stage started with 132
riders with Kanter of Team Sunweb not starting.
A break of Thomas De Gendt of Lotto Soudal, Herman
Pernsteiner of Trek, Benoit Cosnerfroy of AG2R, Miles Scotson of Groupama FDJ, Nick
White of UniSA and Jasha Sutterlin of Movistar formed and with 125kms left,
they were 1.20 ahead.
Into Stirling with a lead of 2.50, the break kept
working and extended their lead to 3.49 going through Bradbury.
Nick White took the first sprint with just over a
hundred kilometres left to race.
The lead went out to 5.23 as De Gendt took the
second sprint before it dropped to 3.43 going through Hahndorf.
De Gendt was away as were Pernsteiner and Scotson as
they started on the Corkscrew Climb with Sutterlin joining them.
They were caught and Michael Woods of EF Education, Richie
Porte of Trek, George Bennett of LottoNL-Jumbo Visma and Wout Poels of Team Sky
led going over the Corkscrew Climb with six kilometres to go with Porte taking
the KOM Points.
What was left of the peloton caught the break and it
came down to a twenty rider sprint which was won by Darryl Impey of Mitchelton-Scott
in 3.03.27 ahead of the race leader Paddy Bevin and Luis Leon Sanchez of Astana.
“A good friend of mine passed away from a heart attack recently. I left
(South Africa) in a bit of a sad mood and it was a pretty rough time for our
whole family because he played a big part in my family. When I came here I
wanted to do something special and to be able to deliver today was pretty
emotional and definitely a confidence booster.
“We are around the mark now. Seven seconds is still quite hard to get on
Paddy (Bevin), he is riding really well and we are quite similar in
characteristics. We’re going to have to go for it, tomorrow will be quite an
interesting stage and definitely Willunga will still be the decider, although
Paddy has got a really nice buffer to the other GC guys.
Speaking about his victory, Darryl Impey said to his team’s press
office: “I think we have to be aggressive wherever we can. There’s no doubt
that trying to win this race is based on seconds, we learnt that last year, so
we’re going to have to try to take our opportunities and make things happen and
hopefully it pays off.
“Lucas (Hamilton), the win was actually due to him, he did a great job.
He is still a young professional, but we had a plan in the beginning that he
was going to ride his own climb and wait for me in the middle which he did, and
then he did his work on the downhill and brought them back. He played a massive
role so I could just sit back and think about the sprint. He had an amazing
ride for such a young guy.
“I rode my own race. I knew I had Lucas there, I could see Paddy just in
front so I knew if I stayed around that range we had a good enough group that
we were going to cooperate on the downhill to try to bring those four
back. I just focused on my own climb and I was very happy to still be
able to do what I did at the end.
“The win gives me a nice boost. I was unsure going into the Corkscrew
knowing I’ve had good and bad times on the Corkscrew. In the middle of the
Corkscrew when I was doubting myself I was thinking ‘jeez you have to keep
pushing.’ I’m glad I did and I’m a lot more confident now going into Willunga.”
Tour Down Under – Stage 4 Results:
1. Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-SCOTT) 3:03:27
2. Patrick Bevin (CCC Team) ST
3. Luis-Leon Sanchez (Astana Pro Team) ST
Tour Down Under - General Classification after Stage 4:
1. Patrick Bevin (CCC Team) 13:23:30
2. Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-SCOTT) +0:07
3. Luis-Leon Sanchez (Astana Pro Team) +0:11
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