Photo gallery: Stage 5 of the 2017 Santos Tour Down Under
Richie Porte and Willunga Hill. It’s a relationship that’s defined the penultimate stage of the Tour Down Under since 2014. Today’s victory, Porte’s fourth consecutive on the hill, was perhaps his most impressive to date.
He didn’t need to attack. He could have sat in and just followed the moves of his rivals, leaning on the 20-second advantage he took into the stage. But the feisty Tasmanian attacked from further out than he has in the past four years, and won convincingly.
He said before the stage he was going to be defensive first and foremost. But he came clean after the race.
“To be honest I was never in two minds — I just lied to the journalists,” Porte admitted. “No, look, I knew I had to attack and I’ve got good legs at the moment.”
He does indeed. It was a demonstrative performance and one that puts Porte in good stead for the season ahead. More immediately, he’s said that tomorrow isn’t a procession, but he has to say that. In reality the TDU was over on stage 2 — Porte just needs to stay upright on tomorrow’s final stage.
In the meantime, here are some great shots from stage 5 of the 2017 Santos Tour Down Under.
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- Angel Vicioso gets his race radio fitted.
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- Richie Porte is ushered back from sign-on by BMC media officer Phoebe Haymes.
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- Peter Sagan at the 2017 Tour Down Under.
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- When commissaire Greg Griffiths walked past Mark Renshaw and his son, he said: “I hope he’s got a race number!”
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- The day’s breakaway.
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- Stunning views along the South Australian coastline.
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- Richie Porte gets a helping hand.
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- The breakaway, reduced to three riders, hits Willunga for the first time.
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- Richie Porte was well supported throughout the day.
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- Chris Hamilton (Sunweb) took a flyer on the first ascent of Willunga but didn’t last too long out front.
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- For the past five years Porte has been unbeatable on Willunga Hill.
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- Esteban Chaves finished third on the stage but moves up to second overall.
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- Michael Woods, such a strong performer last year, lost a minute today.
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- Jack Bauer won the most aggressive rider award for the second day in a row.
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- Caleb Ewan maintains his lead in the points classification.
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- Jhonatan Restrepo now leads the best young rider classification.
