131 kilometres with the start in Brighton remained from the original 176. The route was shortened, in particular by its core elements, the three-time passage of Willunga Hill, which should have served as a mountain finish last time. Instead, the day ended in the village of the same name at the foot of the climb on a slightly uphill finish. Vernon, who had already finished second in the prologue, had by far the best sprint there. Almost two bike lengths separated him from Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM Team), who had won stage 1 in a sprint. Laurence Pithie (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) finished third. For Vernon's NSN team, the successor to Israel - Premier Tech, it was the first victory under a new name.

"It's very special to be the team's first driver to take a win," said the 25-year-old Briton. "It was also important for me to get the season off to a good start. However, I didn't even have the stage on my schedule 24 hours ago," he said with regard to the route change. "We looked at the last two finishes from the women (this year) and from 2023 and someone always won with a strong early attack that opened up a gap. I think I did the same thing."

Brenner also falls, but moves up to fourth place

The reason for the high risk of forest fires, which cancelled out the spectacle fans had hoped for on Willunga Hill, was not only the temperature, which cracked the 40-degree mark during the stage, but also the strong wind, which hit the peloton from the side several times, causing a rush at least once and thus also a mass crash. That was a good 84 kilometres before the finish. The race ended there for Vernon's team-mate Jake Stewart, and Danny van Poppel (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) was also unable to continue. Marco Brenner (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) was also involved in the crash, but was able to continue the race and move up to fourth place in the overall standings.

Last year's winner Narvaez had already collided with a road divider about ten minutes into the race, forcing him to retire. UAE will also have to do without the tireless helper Vegard Stake Laengen for the final day, who was also a victim of the mass crash. While all the pros moved up a place as a result of the Narvaez crash, the new runner-up, Mauro Schmid (Team Jayco AlUla), was also able to shave two seconds off his deficit to Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) after securing bonus seconds at an intermediate sprint. His gap is now 1:03 minutes. Third is Harry Sweeny (EF Education - EasyPost, + 1:12), Brenner is another two seconds behind.

Tour Down Under 2026 - Results stage 4

>> Tour Down Under 2026: Route, stages & TV times of the WorldTour season opener

>> Tour Down Under 2026: The favourites - who will succeed Jhonatan Narváez?

>> Broken bones: Mayrhofer crashes at the season opener

How the 4th stage of the Tour Down Under 2026 went

Even though he tried again today, Martin Urianstad Bugge (Uno-X Mobility) had to let the day's breakaway group go this time. Nevertheless, the Norwegian has his mountain jersey safe, provided he finishes the tour. Instead, it was Remi Cavagna (Groupama - FDJ United), Luke Plapp (Team Jayco AlUla) and Matthew Greenwood (National Team Australia) who spent the day ahead of the peloton. While INEOS Grenadiers and Decathlon initially dominated the chase and kept the trio at a distance of two and a half minutes, Visma | Lease a Bike then got involved. With 24 kilometres to go, Plapp and Greenwood were the last escapees - Cavagna had already dropped back.

The heat did get to some of the pros, which meant that only 46 riders reached the finishing straight together, although the profile of the stage showed a few waves, which are not normally enough to tear the peloton apart. The wind, which caused the one or other wind edge in the final kilometres, did the rest.

Some sprinters were missing, especially the previous day's winner Sam Welsford (INEOS Grenadiers) and Casper van Uden (Team Picnic PostNL). This time Tim Torn Teutenberg (Lidl - Trek) was again present. But when the German tried to start his sprint from a promising position, he was pushed to the tape by Andresen's rider Pierre Gautherat and trapped there.