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PREVIEW | Tour Down Under 2024 stage 5 - Old Willunga Hill showdown likely to decide GC

Preview . Stage 5 of the Tour Down Under is the queen stage. The riders return to the Old Willunga Hill, an explosive summit finish where the gaps can very well decide the race.

Stage 5 sees the return of the Willunga Hill. It's the traditional Tour Down Under finale, and a stage that can be decisive. This is the comeback of the race's (and region's) most famous climb. It is a day that is very short and should be very calm all throughout, with the exception of the end. Like Milano-Sanremo, it is a slow buildup towards what should be a very explosive finale.

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The riders will climb twice the 3-kilometer ascent at 7.5%, the first of which summits with 22.5 kilometers to go. However here there's rarely action, just positioning towards the base but then the race calms down. It's a non-technical and consistent climb so the riders will likely remain in a calm zone. Then in the run-up to the final climb the fight is serious.

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Then, it's a 10-minute effort approximately - including the run-up to the ascent. High speed and big chainring, it's a climb where attacks have to be very powerful to make the difference as it will be raced at high speed. Still, the few seconds, and bonifications at the finish line, often prove vital for the decision of the ochre jersey.

Profiles & Route Tour Down Under 2024 - Old Willunga Hill and Mount Lofty to decide overall classification

The Weather

The heat intensifies once again, it will go close to 30 degrees once again. The wind will also be blowing reasonably hard from the west. In the McLaren Vale the roads are exposed, we will have a very long exposed crosswind section before entering the final climb, which will make for a more difficult finale and where we can see bigger gaps perhaps.

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The Favourites

Isaac del Toro - The Mexican enters the queen stage in the lead. A great climber, and apparently with strong form. This will be a completely new test for him however. It is hard to forget that his pro debut is literally the ongoing race, it would be a crazy achievement to win right away the GC. But it is completely viable, Del Toro does not have to attack, but to follow wheels only. Finn Fisher-Black could also be quite strong here, perhaps to ride in support of the 20-year old, but if there is a big difference he may try to go for the win himself.

Jhonatan Narváez - The Ecuadorian is in flying form, and with no doubt a headliner of the past week. His sprint is brilliant, but the amount of work he's done for teammates in the sprints is not ideal in the long-run. The explosivity is there with no doubt, and I think he'll wait for a sprint or a possible move in the final meters. With bonus seconds he's gotten beforehand, he has the chance to wait a bit more. The issue may be that the effort can be too long for him, but I'm sure he will either way play a role in the finale.

Simon Yates - Jayco has been having a tough week. Luke Plapp is out of the race and he looked superb on stage 2. Hence now the responsibility lies on Simon Yates, who has an effort well adapted to his skills. His form is a question however. The team does have Chris Harper as another option for this climb, however after finishing second last year he wants to improve on that in 2024.

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We've got other climbers who would hope for a long effort and climb that is pushed to the limit. Jack Haig, George Bennett, Ben Zwiehoff, Ruben Guerreiro, Michael Storer and Damien Howson will be in the mix. Milan Vader , after winning the Tour of Guangxi last year, is also expected to be up there as he was the first rider over the top of the climb on stage 2 after Plapp and Narváez.

Julian Alaphilippe is a name often mentioned. In his best day he'd definitely be a man to beat on this one, but not currently... His form does not look promising. There are many puncheurs like him however who can do something big. Compatriots Louis Barré and Bastien Tronchon could be interesting outsiders. Laurence Pithie has also been having a very strong race and will be an interesting figure to keep up with.

We could certainly keep our eyes on Stephen Williams , Derek Gee and Corbin Strong who lead a strong Israel - Premier Tech block. Williams specially can do quite well on a climb like this, whilst Strong sits third in the GC and could take on the ochre jersey if he survives the pace well. Oscar Onley, Archie Ryan, Roger Adria and Gonzalo Serrano are further outsiders on the day,

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Prediction Tour Down Under 2024 stage 5:

*** Jhonatan Narváez, Milan Vader ** Simon Yates, Isaac del Toro, Stephen Williams * Finn Fisher-Black, Chris Harper, Jack Haig, Ruben Guerreiro, Michael Storer, Laurence Pithie, Corbin Strong, Oscar Onley

Pick : Jhonatan Narváez

Preview written by Rúben Silva.

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UNDER_ARTICLE

Wed 11 Sep 2024

Thu 12 Sep 2024

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Highlights: 2024 men's tour down under, stage 5.

Down Under Classic

• Ziptrak® Men's Stage 1

Health Partners Men's Stage 2: Tanunda to Tanunda

• efex Men's Stage 3
• Hahn Men's Stage 4
• THINK! Road Safety Men's Stage 5
• Schwalbe Men's Stage 6

Men's Stages

The 2025 stages pays homage to the events history while exploring new landscapes, promising thrilling challenges for the riders.

Men's combined stage map

Explore the 2025 stages:

Saturday, 18 January 2025

• Start: 7:00 PM, Rundle Road, Adelaide
• Finish: 8:06 PM, Rundle Road, Adelaide
• Distance: 1.8km (1 hour + 6 mins)km

Tuesday, 21 January 2025

Ziptrak® Men's Stage 1: Prospect to Gumeracha

• Start: 11:10 AM, Prospect Road, Prospect
• Finish: 3:26 PM, Albert Street, Gumeracha
• Distance: 150.7km

Wednesday, 22 January 2025

• Start: 11:10 AM, Murray Street, Tanunda
• Finish: 2:23 PM, Murray Street, Tanunda
• Distance: 128.8km

Thursday, 23 January 2025

efex Men's Stage 3: Norwood to Uraidla

• Start: 11:10 AM, The Parade, Norwood
• Finish: 3:01 PM, Greenhill Road, Uraidla
• Distance: 147.5km

Friday, 24 January 2025

Hahn Men's Stage 4: Glenelg to Victor Harbor

• Start: 11:10 AM, Colley Terrace, Glenelg
• Finish: 3:21 PM, Esplanade, Victor Harbor
• Distance: 157.2km

Saturday, 25 January 2025

THINK! Road Safety Men's Stage 5: McLaren Vale - Willunga Hill

• Start: 11:10 AM, Main Road, McLaren Vale
• Finish: 2:53 PM, Brookman Road, Willunga Hill
• Distance: 145.7km

Sunday, 26 January 2025

Schwalbe Men's Stage 6: Adelaide - Adelaide

• Start: King William Road, Adelaide
• Finish: King William Road, Adelaide
• Distance: 90km

The Santos Tour Down Under organisers, advises that there will be low level helicopter and small drone operations between 17 and 26 January for the purpose of broadcast and media operations for the event. 

The flight plans have been reviewed and approved by both the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority, Air Services Australia and will occur strictly for the purpose of broadcasting the 2025 Tour Down Under.

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Tour Down Under 2018 Route stage 5: McLaren Vale – Willunga Hill

The Queen Stage is unchanged from previous years. Starting in McLaren Vale it winds its way through enchanting seaside locales of Port Willunga and Aldinga. This section is part of the first of two circuits. The first one is raced three times and takes in a 8 kilometres section along the coast. There’s always a threat of teams blowing the race apart in the cross winds, although it never happened.

The second circuit is om the menu twice. It is centered around Willunga Hill, a 3 kilometres climb at 7%. The summit is crested for the first time with 22.4 kilometres left before it’s all systems go in the puncher’s dream of a finale. Title holder Richie Porte is imperious on this stage and has dominated Willunga Hill the last four years.

Two intermediate sprints – at kilometres 63.4 and at kilometre 103.4 – come with 3, 2 and 1 seconds each, while the first three riders on the line take time bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds.

Read also: results/race report 5th stage 2018 Tour Down Under .

Tour Down Under 2018 stage 5: Route maps, height profiles, and more

Click on the images to zoom

Tour of Britain: Paul Magnier sprints to third stage win on stage 5

Erlend Blikra second, Ethan Vernon third in Northampton

How it unfolded

Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) made it three wins at the Tour of Britain from five stages, launching a long-range sprint on the dragging finish into Northampton on stage 5 and holding off the challenge from Erlend Blikra (Uno-X Mobility) in second.

The three-man breakaway of the stage that got away in the opening 10km of the 149.6km route made it all the way to the final kilometre until they were swallowed up at the last by the hectic peloton after the likes of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) had worked tirelessly to peg them back.

Without much of a lead-out left after the touch chase, Magnier made his move early in the sprint in the red points jersey, proving he was every bit worthy of wearing it as he powered to the line ahead of the Norwegian and Ethan Vernon (Israel-Premier Tech), who took yet another top three finish. This win marks Magnier’s fifth win of his neo-pro season.

Miraculously, Danish champion Rasmus Søjberg Pedersen (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), who was in the three-man 130km move with Connor Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) and Matthew Holmes (GB), managed to still sprint in the finish to fifth but it was still heartbreak for those in the break.

Stevie Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) kept his overall lead on GC after finishing safely in the front group, holding a 16-second lead over Oscar Onley (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) heading into the final stage tomorrow from Lowestoft to Felixstowe.

“I enjoy it a lot, especially again with a really big team performance today. It was really hard to catch the break in the final. Remco did everything, he did his best, he’s a super fast rider as you know to bring back the really strong breakaway,” said Magnier as he described the finish. “Julian brought me to the front, I saved a lot of energy and in the end, I did my best sprint and the victory is super nice.”

The Frenchman will have a chance to take the sixth win of his neo-pro season tomorrow on a similarly flat stage to Felixstowe, however, the win could play a part in Suffolk down by the coast. Although, it would only be a bonus for the 20-year-old after such a successful week already.  “Why not [go for stage 6]? We will try for sure but it’s already super nice to take three victories here but for sure we will try to go again for victory.”

As the action got going from the University of Northampton and headed west out of the county town, the two categorised climbs of the day up Newnham Hill and Bulshill provided the perfect launch pad for the break of the day to form.

Holmes, Swift, and Pedersen formed the break of the day on the flatter roads with over 140km remaining in the day, ensuring they hit the 600m climbs, which averaged 7.2% and 5.2% respectively, with a lead.

The trio were strong in their concerted effort and rode at a blistering pace to build a lead close to a minute in anticipation of the first climb, where a counter-attack was launched by Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep).

Race leader Williams was in prime position with his Israel-Premier Tech team, however, happy with the three-man group getting away and trying their best to neutralise any more moves from making it uncontrollable.

They were largely successful aside from a solo move by Josh Golliker (Groupama-FDJ), however, the young Brit couldn’t made up the difference to the three strong break riders in front and simply rode in no-man’s-land until he gave up the ghost.

It was a strong effort by Holmes, Swift and Pedersen in front as they tried their hardest to stay away from the Soudal-QuickStep-led peloton for much of the day.

A gap that was barely bigger than 2:30 at its largest on the stage had halved inside the final 50km with a sprint looking likely in Northampton. However, it almost got out of hand in the run for home with many teams not looking to help the chase knowing they would be towing Magnier to another win.

Thankfully for the Frenchman, he has the double Olympic champion Evenepoel on his side, with the gold accents showing themselves at the head of the peloton and producing a super pull inside 20km to go to ensure his sprinter had the chance to win.

Having to do his job earlier than on stage 4, Evenepoel couldn’t aid Alaphilippe fully with the final lead-out, so QuickStep left the last part of the chase up to Uno-X Mobility, who powered into the flamme rouge through Jonas Abrahamsen.

With the break’s heart broken in the final kilometre, the final sprint was beginning and there were not many lead-out riders remaining after a testing day on flat roads.

Magnier emerged from behind the faltering Uno-X train with Vernon on his wheel, however, the Frenchman had enough power to hold off both the Brit and Blikra who was sprinting for Uno-X Mobility. Another perfect day for Soudal-QuickStep wrapped up by their young French sprint star, who has been one of the most successful neo-pros of the season.

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James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.

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