British rider Oscar Onley (dsm-firmenich PostNL) won Saturday’s fifth stage of the Tour Down Under 2024, the final day with a finish on the famous hill of Willunga. The hilly day was 129.3 kilometers long.
The young English talent, 21 years old, was the strongest on the final climb, defeating his compatriot Stephen Williams (Israel – Premier Tech) and Ecuadorian Jhonatan Narvaez (INEOS Grenadiers), who finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal – Quick Step) finished 4th and Mexican Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) finished 8th and lost the lead.
The general classification suffered important changes in the first positions. British rider Stephen Williams (Israel – Premier Tech) became the new leader, while South American Jhonatan Narvaez (INEOS Grenadiers) climbed to 3rd place and Mexican Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) fell to fourth place with a five-second gap over leader Williams.
The breakaway of the day was led by Denmark’s Casper Pedersen (Soudal-Quick-Step), Australia’s Liam Walsh (Australia Team), Italy’s Samuele Battistella (Astana Qazaqstan) and Switzerland’s Johan Jacobs (Movistar), but in the end they were all neutralized by the favorites.
With two hundred meters to go, Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal – Quick Step) was the first to start the final sprint, but the Frenchman did not have the strength to make a big gap, which was taken advantage of by Briton Oscar Onley, who accelerated and took the victory convincingly.
The first race of the World Tour calendar will end this Sunday with another mountainous fraction, which starts from Unley and finishes at Mount Lofty for 128.2 kilometers, a 1,600 meters uphill finish.