Friday 23 January 2015 10:24, UK
Australia’s Steele von Hoff sprinted to victory on stage four of the Santos Tour Down Under as compatriot Rohan Dennis retained the overall race lead.
Von Hoff (Uni SA) produced a powerful burst in the final 150m to comfortably beat Daryl Impey (Orica-GreenEdge) into second place and Wouter Wippert (Drapac) into third.
A crash just behind the front-runners held up the majority of the peloton in the final straight, but given that it happened inside the last 3km of the stage all riders were awarded the same time.
Dennis consequently remains seven seconds ahead of BMC Racing team-mate Cadel Evans at the top of the general classification, with Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) two seconds further back in third.
Bonus seconds saw Impey climb up to fourth place, 13 seconds back, while Richie Porte (Team Sky) drops to fifth but remains 15 seconds off the pace.
Von Hoff, who is riding for Uni SA as a one-off and will spend the rest of the season with British team NFTO, said: “Jack Bobridge [his team-mate and the winner of stage one] was looking after me, saying, ‘Be patient, I know these roads like the back of my hand’.
“I just trusted him and then he delivered me in the final 1km under the banner. I held wheels, switched trains. He told me to mark Quick-Step, because with [Mark] Renshaw here they are definitely a fantastic chance.
“Then it opened up on the left-hand side of the road and I managed to find Wouter Wippert’s wheel and sat on it.”
The 144.5km stage, from Glenelg to Mt Barker, ended in a sprint after the second of the day's two breakaways had been caught with 9km remaining.
With Marcel Kittel (Giant-Alpecin) having been dropped by the peloton earlier in the stage, the sprint was thrown wide open and multiple teams fought to deliver their fast men to the finishing straight in prime position.
Impey's Orica-GreenEdge squad had looked the best placed, but Von Hoff thwarted them with a perfectly timed burst.
Of the Uni SA team, he added: “We are batting well above our average here. Two stage wins, the [leader's] ochre jersey for two days - it’s fantastic. We have got such a good team.”
Stage four result
1 Steele von Hoff (Aus) Uni SA, 3:24:28
2 Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica-GreenEdge, same time
3 Wouter Wippert (Ned) Drapac Professional Cycling, st
4 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) IAM Cycling, st
5 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale, st
6 Niccolo Bonifazio (Ita) Lampre-Merida, st
7 Rudiger Selig (Ger) Katusha, st
8 Gianni Meersman (Bel) Etixx – Quick-Step, st
9 Eugenio Alafaci (Ita) Trek Factory Racing, st
10 Koen de Kort (Ned) Giant-Alpecin, st
General classification
1 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing, 13:41:34
2 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing, +7secs
3 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin, +9
4 Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica-GreenEdge, +13
5 Richie Porte (Aus) Team Sky, +15
6 Jack Haig (Aus) Uni SA, same time
7 Mick Rogers (Aus) Tinkoff-Saxo, st
8 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar, st
9 Maxime Bouet (Fra) Etixx – Quick-Step, st
10 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Ag2r-La Mondiale, st
Highlights of stage four will be shown on Sky Sports 1HD at 8am and 12pm, and then again on Sky Sports 3HD at 7.30pm. Watch stage five live on Sky Sports 1HD on Saturday from 12.30am.
