The cyclists had to feel a bit better about the weather on Saturday as they made final preparations for Stage Five of the Santos Tour Down Under (TDU). The 148km course was quite different from the previous day, as it was set up as a quasi-circuit, starting off flat, and finishing with two climbs near the end.
The stage started at Snapper Point near Aldinga Beach with two loops by that mark, also passing two through the South Australian wine region of McLaren Vale, and twice through Willunga. It then would move east for two loops up and over Old Willunga Hill Road before finally coming to the finish line in Willunga.
Built-in for the stage were two sprints, and two King of the Mountain (KOM) contests at the end. With just two days left, surely all the teams would be looking to improve their lot. And for Team RadioShack (TRS), after a few attacks and other tactics executed at different times during earlier stages, and one of their riders in the top five for the General Classification (GC), they would surely be poised to respond decisively if the opportunity arose.
As expected given the flats of the first portion of the stage, there were attacks right out the gate. Initially none of the attacking riders were able free themselves from the peloton’s grasp. After a bit, a small gap was established, and the breakaway was on, led by riders from Footon-Servetto-Fuji, Astana, Uni SA, Team Katusha, and Garmin- Transitions. Meanwhile, HTC Columbia was at the front controlling the peloton, with Caisse d’Epargne and BMC pacing just behind.
The breakaway built a lead of just over two minutes and maintained the lead position through the two sprints, both marked at Snapper Point. The first sprint was taken by Valeriy Dmitriyev of Astana at the 40km mark, and the second sprint saw Eduard Vorganov of Katusha across first at the 80km mark. The breakaway would continue to ride well together and hold their lead a while longer.
As the first of two King of the Mountain (KOM) contests approached, HTC Columbia continued at the front of the peloton, TRS was now shadowing the HTC squad. Caisse d’Epargne was also well-positioned. Nearing the first climb, Thomas Rohregger of Milram moved to the front and away from the group, attempting to bridge the gap to the breakaway. The lead was down to about one minute.
By the time the breakaway was in the first KOM ascent up Willunga Hill at the 106km mark, Rohregger had caught the group, clearly motivated to attempt a repeat of his KOM victory earlier in the week. It was not to be. The first to the summit was Astana’s Dmitriyev, adding to his accomplishments for the afternoon. Rohregger was second, and Cameron Meyer of Garmin-Transitions was third.
After the peloton was also over the hill on the first go round, the breakaway began to falter. It was soon swallowed up on the descent. The riders were well spread out over the course as they made their way around and again approached Willunga Hill for the second climb at the 129km mark. This time it was Cadel Evans of BMC and Alejandro Valverde of Caisse d’Epargne who would battle in the climb to the top. Ultimately it was Valverde over the summit first with the help of teammate Luis Leon Sanchez, who was second. Evans took the third spot in that contest. It wouldn’t be long before Sanchez, who won the 2005 TDU, showed he wasn’t quite done for the day.
Evans, Sanchez, and Valverde lead the breakaway on the final descent, reportedly reaching speeds up to 100km, and built a half minute advantage on the field. As the racers charged over the last 20km, HTC Columbia continued to control the peloton, positioning for the final push.
In the end the breakaway managed to hold its lead through to the finish, and it was Sanchez who claimed victory for the day. Luke Roberts, an Aussie rider for Milram who had managed to bridge to the breakaway over the final kilometers, was second across, and Alejandro Valverde was third. From their successful efforts for the day, Sanchez improved his GC standing to second, and Roberts is now in third overall.
Team RadioShack succeeded in getting one rider among the top ten for the stage: Sebastien Rosseler was 7th for the day. The other members of the TRS squad finished as follows: Daryl Impey, 18th; Lance Armstrong, 33rd; Tomas Vaitkus, 45th, Yaroslav Popovych, 47th; Gert Steegmans, 68th, Jason McCartney, 86th. With the final stage on Sunday, a flat and fast 90km criterium in Adelaide, the Shack’ers have one more day to see what they can achieve on the roads of South Australia.
By Jeff Ludlum, staff writer
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