Brave Bevin loses lead on tour’s final stage
A stoic Patrick Bevin has bravely battled through the final stage of the Tour Down Under, but he was unable to win his maiden World Tour stage race.
The Kiwi cyclist picked up a number of injuries after a heavy crash on Saturday’s fifth stage which almost saw him fall out of contention before he hauled himself back up to the peloton.
But that effort, and the pain of his injuries, proved too much on yesterday’s 151.5-kilometre sixth and final stage to the top of Willunga Hill, south of Adelaide, South Australia.
Bevin succumbed early on the first ascent of Willunga Hill, some 25km from the finish, with a descent of the hill and another ascent still to go. He eventually finished five minutes and 41 seconds behind stage winner Richie Porte. Bevin said he was feeling OK in the early part of the stage, but was quickly in trouble up the climb.
‘‘I was very sore to start with and then I didn’t feel too bad once we got rolling. Honestly, I was entertaining the thought of getting around. I had nothing to lose and I was going to go out and just hang on. But, we started fighting on the run up to the climb and I was in the red there, I was in trouble. I tried to regain my composure as we hit the climb and push on, but I couldn’t do it. It’s a pretty awful feeling to watch the race ride up the road.’’
Despite the disappointment, Bevin was philosophical about the end result.
"At the end of the day, I’ll look back and say it was a great week. There was a stage win, a fight, but obviously it’s going to hurt for a little while to lose that on the last day after crashing yesterday.’’
Bevin came into the final stage with a seven-second lead over South African Daryl Impey and
26 seconds over the leading climbers, including Australian Porte and fellow Kiwi George Bennett.
He eventually finished five minutes and 34 seconds behind winner Impey in 41st overall, but came inside the time limit to win the consolation prize of the blue jersey for the best sprinter on the tour.
Bennett slipped out of the top
10 into 12th after struggling up the final climb.