After 148 kilometers from Unley to Victor Harbor, André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) celebrated for the first time this season on the fourth stage of the Tour Down Under. Perfectly staged by his teammates, he superiorly secured the day's win ahead of Jürgen Roelandts and Elia Viviani (Cannondale).
Although a leading group once again dominated the early phase of the race, it was a success Cameron Wurf (Cannondale) and Axel Domont (Ag2R-La Mondiale) only managed to pull away after almost 50 kilometers. However, they were not granted a great head start. The reason for this lies in the bonus seconds that the drivers can collect along the way and which second in the general classification, Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) was after. His team pushed the pace halfway through the race and was thus in the lead Myponga Dam creates a division of the field. Arnstadt's Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano), who missed the leap into the top, was also a victim of this.
For Greipel's Lotto-Belisol team, the preliminary work done by the Australian WorldTour team was a hit. “This morning I still thought there could be a sprint today”, said Greipel after the stage, "First and second place for our team says it all."
There were hardly any changes in the overall ranking. Cadel Evans (BMC) continues to lead ahead of Gerrans, who has worked his way up to seven seconds on his compatriot. In the next few days, the bonus seconds could be the decisive factor in tipping the scales.
//Result
1. André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) 3:33:07
2. Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto-Belisol) 0:00:00
3. Elijah Viviani (Cannondale) 0:00:00
4. Simon Gerrans (Orica GreenEdge) 0:00:00
5. Nathan Haas (Garmin Sharp) 0:00:00
6. Daryl Impey (Orica-GreenEdge) 0:00:00
//overall rating
1.Cadel Evans (BMC) 14:19:46
2. Simon Gerrans (Orica GreenEdge) 0:00:07
3. Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) 0:00:14
4. Nathan Haas (Garmin Sharp) 0:00:23
5. Robert Gesink (Belkin) 0:00:29