Two straight days of searing 40C temperatures make for tough racing, says BMC’s Rohan Dennis

A SECOND straight day of soaring temperatures made racing tough, and now it all comes down to Old Willunga Hill, writes Rohan Dennis.

BMC riders Richie Porte, Miles Scotson, Simon Gerrans, Rohan Dennis and Tom Bohli cool off after stage 4. Picture Sarah Reed

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IT’S all going to come down to Old Willunga Hill today to decide the ochre jersey after another epic day in the Santos Tour Down Under on Friday.

We started the stage from Norwood to Uraidla an hour earlier but it was about coming into Gumeracha and when the breakaway of Alex Porter and Zak Dempster started to get too much time that the race went up a gear and everyone had to lift to bring them back.

We really had to make a move at that point and being a bit of a crosswind was pretty hard to hold the wheel and everyone was pretty stressed.

It was the second day in a row of 41C temperatures but it felt hotter than the stage to Victor Harbor on Thursday because it was so much harder.

We raced the stage harder so our core temperature goes up more and it was a bit more wind which all adds up to a harder day.

I always thought it was a chance the stage would be a sprint at the finish but at one stage Richie, myself, Sam Bennett, Peter Sagan and a Bahrain-Merida rider were all off the front together and we had a gap.

At that point I thought if the bunch stalls it would be five of us going for the sprint which Sagan would obviously win.

Uni-SA Australia rider Zak Dempster tries to cool down in 41C heat on Friday. Picture: AFP Photo

But I wasn’t surprised that Sagan was still there at the finish.

It was hard up the climb going over Norton Summit but you could still sit on as the pace went up.

If there were a couple of attacks I was thinking then maybe he might miss it and wouldn’t be there at the finish but physically there was no way he was going to get dropped.

He’s such a powerful rider and he showed that by winning the stage and that’s why he’s world champion.

For us at BMC it was about letting other people make the race and if we could go over the top then we would. But it was just too fast and everyone was pretty motivated because from 5km to go they all knew it was nearly over.

And in that you get a lot of rest so it changed people’s mentality because it wasn’t a full uphill finish.

It’s a big day for us on Saturday, I think we have to attack and try to drop guys and it will come down to whoever is the best climber for the Tour.

Hopefully that’s not Sagan or Jay McCarthy or Daryl Impey because we have to take time out of those guys but we have full faith in Richie.

Originally published as Two straight days of searing 40C temperatures make for tough racing, says BMC’s Rohan Dennis