Bennett eyes best finish in Adelaide
George Bennett looks to have secured his best finish at the Tour Down Under in South Australia. Bennett finished 16th in the decisive penultimate stage on Willunga Hill yesterday, being unable to stay with the victor but keeping pace with the bulk of the leading group.
He finished the stage 14 seconds behind Australian winner and defending champion Richie Porte, but only dropped one spot in the overall standings.
Bennett sits in ninth overall with one stage remaining, which would be his best finish following a 10th place in 2015 and two further top-20 finishes in his five trips to Adelaide. He is 24 seconds adrift of new leader Daryl Impey, who finished second yesterday to take the ochre jersey.
Impey was overjoyed to take the race lead. “I’m stoked, I can’t believe it. I put in a lot of work for this race, but never thought I’d be in the leader’s jersey. It’s fantastic, to deliver like this with the help of the team is just magical.”
Impey is on the same time as Porte, but leads on a count-back after having claimed higher finishes earlier in the Tour. While Porte could sneak ahead by winning an intermediate sprint, he has conceded that Impey is the heavy favourite.
“Look, Daryl’s quick; he’s been second twice in the stages here,” Porte said.
“Realistically, I don’t have a chance to move up because, if I start going, Caleb Ewan [Impey’s teammate] and guys like this are going to start going for the intermediates, too.”
Porte was victorious for the fifth straight year on the summit finish of Willunga Hill, launching his attack with 1.5 kilometres to go and holding off all challengers with ease to take the line honours.
Despite not looking likely for back-to-back victories, Porte is pleased with his performance, in what is his first stage race since crashing out of last year’s Tour de France on stage nine.
“I’m happy with where I am, things considered,” Porte said.
“It’s unfortunate that I miss out on the ochre jersey by very little but Daryl has had a fantastic tour. It was up to me to put more time on to him. I couldn’t finish the job off but I’m happy with another stage.” all
Peter Sagan, who came into the day as race leader, was dropped with 1.8 kilometres to go, and Porte took his opportunity to strike, accelerating on the steep final climb.
Bennett tried to match Porte’s initial kick, but couldn’t get past Bahrain-Merida rider Ion Izagirre.
As Porte stepped up the pressure, only his fellow Australian Jay McCarthy could match him, but Porte soon found a second wind to coast away to take the stage — but not the overall lead — as Impey stormed home eight seconds behind to claim second.
Bennett rolled home shortly after, and looks set to record the best finish by a New Zealander at the Tour since 2010, when Greg Henderson finished in third place.
The tour’s final stage gets underway this afternoon.