photo credits @ TDU
France’s Bryan Coquard claimed the Santos Tour Down Under Hahn Men’s stage 4 with a brilliant tactical last kilometer to beat Phil Bauhaus and Jhonatan Narvaez in a sprint finish at the Esplanade, Victor Harbor on Friday.
Coquard’s victory saw Javier Romo Oliver hold onto the Santos ochre leader’s jersey as the Hahn stage 4 Glenelg to Victor Harbor belonged to the sprint kings.
Romo Oliver is four seconds clear of his biggest GC threat Narvaez.
“Very happy to win, it’s my best chance to win here and it’s a perfect day,” Coquard said. “I love this country and at the start of the season I started good. I used my (track) experience to do a good sprint from about 300m, it’s perfect,” he added.
With Coquard claiming his second Santos Tour Down Under stage after winning at Willunga in 2023, Javier Romo Oliver held onto the Santo’s ochre leader’s jersey.
The Spaniard is 10 seconds clear of Narvaez (UAE Team Emirates -XRG) with the Think! Road Safety stage 5 McLaren Vale to Willunga Hill looming to be the most critical to General Classification contenders.
The Hahn stage 4 Glenelg to Victor Harbor was expected to be calculated and tactical – and it was.
An early breakaway led by Jayco AlUla’s Mauro Schmid powering over the Snapper Point, Aldinga finish line saw the Swiss rider dominate TV air time for at least two hours before the worked hard to bring back the breakaway as Victor Harbor approached.
Schmid won the Ziptrak intermediate sprint #1 bonus ahead of Belgian Junior Lecerf (Soudal Quick-Step) and Italy’s Giosue Epis (Akrea – B&B Hotels) which at that point of the race didn’t bother the sprint kings nor the general classification contenders including Santos leader Romo Oliver.
The race then settled into a predictable pattern.
However, as the second efex King of the Mountain was approaching at Nettle Hill, 21.3 km before the Esplanade, the teams started making moves to position either their best sprinter and overall contender.
The gap closed in the Inman Valley to less than a minute about 27.7km from Victor Harbor as Romo Oliver’s Movistar team were chasing down the breakaway.
Romo Oliver at that stage of the race was 1 min 05 sec behind the breakaway with Movistar teammate, Eritrea’s Natnael Tesfazion chasing the then stage leaders.
Tesfazion, who earned was second on the general classification at the 2024 Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race put rivals on the peloton on notice.
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