Richie Porte (Sky) secured what is arguably the most prestigious finish of the Tour Down Under. On Willunga Hill, none of the favorites could match the noble helper of the Tour de France winner Chris Froome. In the end he won solo ahead of Italian Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) and Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge). Cadel Evans (BMC), the overall leader, was fighting hard, unable to catch Gerrans' rear wheel in the last hundred meters and losing his lead. He is now one second behind the Australian champions in the overall standings.
As on the second stage, Jens Voigt (Trek Factory Racing) was one of the assets of the race. Together with Matteo Trentin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Jose Lobato (Movistar) and Mikhail Ignatyev (Katusha), the 42-year-old Berliner held his ground in front of the field for a long time. At 50km their lead was around eight minutes, but it narrowed as the race progressed. On the first crossing of Willunga Hill, Voigt finally showed again why he deserved the honor of being the most active driver of the stage. However, his attack was not marked by success.
He was finally caught on the descent to Willunga, so that the field tackled the second drive up what is probably Australia's most famous climb. Two kilometers from the finish, Porte attacked and initially managed to break away with Evans. However, the 2011 Tour winner failed to hold Porte's rear wheel. While he lost time, Ulissi and Gerrans caught up to him from behind.
Evans will find it difficult to regain the lead on tomorrow's final stage. "The tour is not over yet. But we're fighting against a team that's tailor-made for this race. We don't have a pure sprinter here. The difference between the winner, second and even third place in the general classification now depends on these intermediate sprints. So if you don't start here with a sprint team, you don't have the best cards.", the Australian looked ahead.
//Result
1. Richie Porte (Sky) 3:42:20
2. Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) 0:00:10
3. Simon Gerrans (Orica GreenEdge) 0:00:10
4. Robert Gesink (Belkin) 0:00:14
5. Daryl Impey (Orica-GreenEdge) 0:00:14
//overall rating
1. Simon Gerrans (Orica GreenEdge) 18:02:19
2.Cadel Evans (BMC) 0:00:01
3. Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) 0:00:05
4. Richie Porte (Sky) 0:00:10
5. Nathan Haas (Garmin Sharp) 0:00:27