Richie Porte goes solo in Tour Down Under but Daryl Impey set to challenge

The greatest climber the Tour Down Under has ever seen, Richie Porte, is back in the ochre jersey.

Richie Porte wins sStage 3 at Paracombe on Thursday. Picture: Getty Images

The greatest climber the Tour Down Under has ever seen, Richie Porte, is back in the ochre jersey but bracing for an all-out assault from defending champion Daryl Impey in the first 40km of Stage 4 on Friday.

Porte powered his way to a six-second overall lead by winning a hilltop finish to Stage 3 at Paracombe on Thursday.

But that can evaporate on the road to Murray Bridge on Friday if Mitchelton-Scott are able to control the threat of an early breakaway and lead Impey to two separate three-second time bonuses on the road.

The first intermediate sprint comes 18km into the stage at Cudlee Creek and the next 12km later at Williamstown.

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There is also a chance that Impey — who climbed strongly to finish sixth behind Porte, Robert Power and Simon Yates at Paracombe — may contest the sprint finish in Murray Bridge before repeating the tactics from Glenelg to Victor Harbor on Saturday’s fifth stage.

That would set up yet another mouth-watering final day on Old Willunga Hill to decide the race.

“Who knows?” said Porte when asked if he’d put himself in a race-winning position.

“Historically this has been the queen stage when it’s been in the race but two more stages to go before Willunga, the race is not over yet, there are time bonuses on the road and I expect that Mitchelton will go for them.

“We have fast guys like Kiel (Reijen) and Mads (Pedersen) but look, we will just take it one day at a time.

“If that’s how the race goes that’s how it is but Willunga we are going to have to do a good race there.”

As the peloton swung right up Torrens Hill Road, Porte attacked almost from the bottom of the climb and rode solo to the line while pushing into a fierce headwind.

“Other than that headwind in the final it was really good, the team were fantastic and it was a good battle,” he said. “I felt good in the final and would have liked to have taken a little more time on Daryl but you’ve got to take the victories when you can and I will savour that one.

“I think I lost a bit of time in the last 300m but it was nice to get the gap that I did, the guys were so good for me and put me in a fantastic position because it was a hectic run into the final — some of these young guys are prepared to take much bigger risks than us older guys.”

Mitchelton-Scott still have two cards to play with Impey and Yates who courageously rode to third place on Thursday, after smashing his knee in a crash as the peloton raced into Stirling on Wednesday afternoon.

Director Matt White said the next two sprint stages would make for animated racing.

“We knew Richie would be the one to beat up here, he was too good for everyone, but the gap’s minimal and we just go back to our usual plan,” White said.

“Richie is in pole position, we’ve been in this situation before and Daryl is only at six seconds so it means we have to win time bonuses doesn’t it?

“It’s doable because Daryl has improved on Willunga … it’s a longer climb but not as brutal as Paracombe.”

Then there is Yates who is fourth overall at 11 seconds behind Porte but clearly ready to pounce again on Willunga.

“We had to see how it panned out overnight and in the warm-up and the (knee) pain was bearable,” White said.

“We weren’t going to push him through any type of pain and do any damage long-term, our big picture is winning down the track, but it was a good outcome.

“Two knees that work would have been a lot easier, he got rolled for second place, the knee is better than expected and there is still a lot to play for.”

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