Patrick Bevin, Daryl Impey get break on Richie Porte and chasing pack heading into final two days of Tour Down Under

All-rounders Paddy Bevin and Daryl Impey were breathing a sigh of relief after gaining crucial time-bonuses over Richie Porte in a thrillig finish to Stage 4 today but 21 seconds is still enough for them to sleep with one eye open the next two nights.

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All-rounders Paddy Bevin and Daryl Impey were breathing a sigh of relief after gaining crucial time-bonuses over Richie Porte on Friday but 21 seconds is still enough for them to sleep with one eye open the next two nights.

Impey and Bevin went 1-2 in a thrilling finish to Stage 4 of the Tour Down Under in Campbelltown after reeling in a group of four climbers including Porte who gapped them on the climb up the Corkscrew.

Daryl Impey of South Africa and Team Mitchelton-Scott edges out Patrick Bevin of New Zealand and CCC Team to the finish line at Campbelltown to score the win on Stage 4 of the 2019 Tour Down Under. Picture: Tim de Waele/Getty Images

New Zealander Bevin now leads the race by seven seconds to Impey and 11 to Luis Leon Sanchez while Porte is in a group 21 seconds back going into a sprinter-friendly stage to Strathalbyn today and the hill-top finish on Willunga on Saturday.

“It’s still not a huge buffer,” Bevin said.

“Those four (Porte, George Bennett, Mike Woods and Wout Poels) showed themselves as the best pure climbers in this race, but this race fortunately is about being an all-rounder.

“Basically you’ve got to sprint better than the climbers and climb better than the sprinters.”

🏁 The defending champion @darylimpey timed that just perfectly 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 What a finish to 100% Stage 4 for the @MitcheltonSCOTT man!! #TourDownUnder pic.twitter.com/KKrfaIV7T0

— Santos Tour Down Under 🚴🚴‍♀️ (@tourdownunder) January 18, 2019

Bevin and Impey are both expected to look for more time bonuses either on the road or at the finish today so they can prepare for Porte’s inevitable attack on Sunday.

“Willunga is not as steep, it’s a real power climb and a bigger rider putting out bigger wattage you’re harder to get away from. Daryl showed it last year and I’ll just try to get up that climb as fast as possible,” Bevin said.

The Team CCC leader said yesterday’s stage played out perfectly for him.

“Look, had I won the stage that was beyond wildest expectations. This race is hard and I took the onus up as much as I had to on the descent and I knew as the group got bigger I thought any time bonus would be better than none,” he said.

“To give up four seconds to Daryl is a great result because I don’t feel like he’s climbing better than I am, and we put time into the pure climbers again.”

Ochre jersey wearer Patrick Bevin shows the strain after Stage 4. Picture: AAP Image/David Mariuz

Porte said Bevin was now in the box seat to secure the ochre jersey going into the final two days of racing.

“It wasn’t really that hard. Bevin cracked pretty early but he obviously rode at a pretty good tempo,” Porte said of Stage 4.

“We went super hard and the next thing there were four of us. We worked well together but I was surprised how quickly that group came back, and I was surprised to see there was a camera motorbike sat right in front of them there.

“That’s a part of it I suppose but hats off to Daryl. He is a good guy and I think he rode a great race.

“It’s (the race) for Paddy Bevin to lose. He cracked first today but it’s stressful having the jersey and having to defend it. And Daryl is coming back, right in there too. For us guys who hooked off the front there, it’s good signs for Sunday.”

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