Today’s penultimate stage of the Santos Tour Down Under was billed as being the big decider and so it proved, with the list of possible winners of the race being slashed to effectively two. Other riders can mathematically still win, but the fight for the final ochre jersey has essentially become a battle between stage winner Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Simon Gerrans (GreenEdge).
The latter kicked hard inside the final 200 metres of the stage to the top of Old Willunga Hill and while he initially opened a slight gap on Valverde, the Spaniard had enough time to come back at him and get past him by the line.
Early on, the stage saw a break comprising six riders go clear. They tried to pull out a sufficient lead over the peloton but with a lot of racing being done behind, there was little chance of staying out front. Nathan Haas was the last to resist, the new Garmin-Barracuda signing holding a lead going over the top of the first ascent of Old Willunga Hill, but he was finally reeled in on the descent and from that point on it was a battle between the overall contenders for the stage win and the race lead.
A full gallery of images is available from today’s stage; click a photo below to advance to the shots.
For a full race report, click here: