Tour Down Under 2024: Williams wins on Mount Lofty and takes overall victory
Sebastian Lindner
· 21.01.2024
Behind Williams, Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers) and Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) crossed the finish line at the same time and also occupied the podium places in the overall standings in this order. Oscar Onley (dsm-firmenich PostNL), who was tied for the lead with Williams before the stage, crossed the finish line ten seconds behind in a larger chasing group and ultimately finished fourth in the final standings.
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Williams, who is a surprise winner despite winning the Arctic Race of Norway 2023, is therefore the Successor to Jay Vinewho was not at the start this year. It is the greatest success of his career. For the first time since 2010, when André Greipel celebrated overall victory in the Team HTC-Highroad jersey, the winner of the Tour is not from Australia or a team from Down Under. The last time the winner was not a rider from the World Tour or the top league of international cycling was in 2004.
Williams can't follow at first and then comes back victorious
"I'm over the moon and delighted to have made it," said the 27-year-old of his triumph. "I knew that we would have a good chance today at Lofty, it's a perfect finish for me." The group around the eventual winner had formed around one and a half kilometres before the finish when del Toro attacked out of a larger field. Narvaez was able to follow immediately, but Williams also fought his way back - and then had the best legs in the final sprint.
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Meanwhile, Sam Welsford (Bora-Hansgrohe) confidently defended the points classification, and Luke Burns' (Australian national team) mountain jersey could no longer be shaken. In the junior classification, del Toro overtook Onley again on the final day. The team classification was won by Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale.
In 12th and 13th place overall, Georg Zimmermann (Intermarche-Wanty) and Ben Zwiehoff (Bora-Hansgrohe) were the best Germans, each 57 seconds behind Williams. Both were part of the chasing group on the final stage.
Tour Down Under 2024 - Results: The top 10 of stage 2
- Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) 3:05:26
- Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:00
- Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) +0:00
- Bart Lemmen (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:00
- Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ) +0:03
- Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:10
- Damian Howson (Australian national team) +0:10
- Christian Scaroni (Astana Qazqastan Team) +0:10
- Bauke Mollema (Lidl-Trek) +0:10
- Lars Boven (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +0:10
The final standings in the overall standings
- Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) 19:13:34
- Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:09
- Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) +0:11
- Oscar Onley (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +0:20
- Bart Lemmen (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:23
- Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:33
- Simon Yates (Team Jayco-AlUla) +0:33
- Valentin Paret-Peintre (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +0:36
- Damien Howson (Team Australia) +0:42
- Jack Haig (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:50
This is how the 6th stage of the Tour Down Under went
Right at the start of stage 6, which started in Unley and finished on Mount Lofty, it was all uphill. Several riders tried to break away from the field. But no one was able to break away decisively until the summit. Chris Harper (Team Jayco-AlUla) was the first to secure ten points, followed by Burns, who crossed the finish line and could no longer be displaced from the mountains jersey.
Only then were seven riders able to break away, including Simon Geschke (Cofidis), for whom it was the last appearance at the Tour Down Under in his career, Maurice Ballerstedt (Alpecin-Deceuninck), the Portuguese Antonio Morgado, the second huge talent in the UAE Emirates team alongside del Toro, and Stefan de Bod (EF Education EasyPost), the best-placed breakaway rider in the classification with a gap of 1:30 minutes.
The group crossed Mount Lofty twice on the hilly course before entering the hot phase. The four-minute lead they were granted by the peloton even lasted deep into the final climb. The septet was only caught four kilometres before the end. Morgado and Gil Gelders (Soudal - Quick Step) wanted to delay the finish a little longer, but Ineos Grenadiers in particular had something against it.
At this point, however, the main group had already thinned out considerably. And it shrank even further when del Toro was the first of the favourites to attack 1600 metres before the finish. Narvaez went with him and Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ) was also able to stay right behind. Williams and Bart Lemmen (Visma | lease a Bike) caught up again with a slight delay. When the group looked at each other at the 1000 metre mark, the chasers at most 80 metres behind them, the young New Zealander Pithie took heart and shook off the rest.
Led by del Toro, however, they all came back, Pithie had laid all his cards on the table and had to pass for the last few metres. Lemmen was also unable to get involved in the sprint of the other three and could only watch as Williams opened up a small gap, which del Toro and Narvaez were able to close in the slipstream, but were unable to pass the man in ochre.
