Caleb Ewan of
Lotto Soudal took the victory on the fifth stage of the Santos Tour Down Under.
CCC Polish Team’s Paddy Bevin, was in the ochre
jersey again for a 149.5km stage
from Glenelg, through the Fleurieu Peninsula to Strathalbyn.
132 riders started
the stage with Jason Lea and Ayden Toovey of the UniSA team off early and
joined by Chevrier of AG2R.
Along the Southern Expressway
and they were 3.20 ahead but the peloton worked hard and with 133kms to go,
they had a lead of forty seconds.
The three leader
reached the bottom of the first climb before Toovey was dropped and Lea was
first to the points.
They were caught and
Darryl Impey, already a stage winner in this race, was first to the first
intermediate sprint points ahead of the race leader.
Into Inman Valley
and Bevin beat Impey to the points at the next sprint before Groupama FDJ’s Matthieu
Ladagnous broke clear, being joined again by Toovey.
The pair were 2.55 ahead
with sixty kilometres remaining and 3.26 ahead at the feedzone.
Onto the coastal
Port Elliott road and the front duo were a kilometre ahead of the pack but
despite speed of 52kmh from Toovey, the gap was falling dramatically.
Toovey and Ladagnous
dropped back as LottoNL-Jumbo Visma tried to split up the peloton with an
attack off the front, going into the final twenty kilometres of the stage.
There was a brief
split in the peloton but everyone was back together with fifteen kilometres to
go, amidst tail cross-winds.
Race leader Paddy Bevin
crashed along with a number of riders in the middle of the peloton but was back
on his bike with nine kilometres left and allowed back into the fold by the
peloton who had sat up and waited for him.
Bevin finally got
back in with two kilometres to go and a nasty right hand corner was negotiated
to take the riders under the flam rouge.
Caleb Ewan and Peter
Sagan battled it out and it was Lotto Soudal’s Caleb Ewan who took the win in
3.37.00 ahead of Jasper Philipsen and Peter Sagan.
Paddy Bevin stays in
the leader’s jersey for another stage.
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