Jhonatan Narváez is looming as the first Ecuadorian to claim a prestigious Santos Tour Down Under UCI WorldTour crown after winning an incredible stage atop Willunga Hill on Saturday.
Narváez claimed THINK! Road Safety Stage 5 when he soloed about 300m from the top of the summit to take the win.
The victory propelled Narváez to head of the general classification.
The 27-year-old said his team had targeted an overall victory before arriving from its European preseason – either for his Australian teammate Jay Vine, who won the race in 2023, or himself.
Narváez will wear the Santos Ochre Leader’s jersey on Sunday for the final Schwalbe Stage 6 on the streets of Adelaide.
“I was feeling well at every stage; Jay wasn’t feeling so good he had a crash (on Friday),” Narvaez said. “That was our tactic, to win the race with me or him (Vine).”
Narváez has a nine-second lead over Spain’s Javier Romo Oliver, who has worn the leader’s jersey since winning efex Stage 3 from Norwood to Uraidla on Thursday.
Romo Oliver was four seconds ahead of the Ecuadorian on Saturday morning before the race produced fireworks.
Five-time Santos Tour Down Under stage winner Sam Welsford crashed for a second time during the race, but the Australian dusted himself down and was checked by the Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe doctor before jumping back on his bike.
Welsford said he now wants to add another stage to his impressive CV, with the final Schwabe Stage 6 pedaling off in the city streets of Adelaide on Sunday afternoon.
THE RACE
Ziptrack Sprint #2 — Esplanade at Snapper Point near Butterworth Road, Aldinga Beach 96.6km
Four riders continued to lead the stage heading towards the coastal Snapper Point at Aldinga.
Ben Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) earned a valuable bonus for being first, followed by Jayco AlUla’s Michael Hepburn and ARA Australia’s Oliver Bleddyn.
Teams and riders started preparing to tackle the steep side of Willunga Hill after the second intermediate sprint of the stage.
After going over the top of Santos Tour Down Under legend Richie Porte’s favorite climb into the Willunga township – essentially the other way around before the two intermediate sprints – the men enjoyed a very rapid descent on Old Willunga Hill Road.
However, this time they tackled the famed hill – dominated seven times by Porte – for efex King of the Mountain bonuses and the chance to make history in the grand finale.
efex King of the Mountain #2 — Willunga Hill 1 7.4% 11.0% 3.00km 123.0km
The main peloton pedaled hard to chase down an attack which had a lead of 1 min 35 sec with 35.1km to go before the finish.
The quartet were all swallowed up by the main peloton about 500m from the Willunga Hill summit before Jayco AlUla’s Chris Harper and Swiss teammate Mauro Schmid battled for pole position.
Schmid, who won Friday’s Yamaha Most Competitive Rider title, prevailed over Harper.
efex King of the Mountain #3 — Willunga Hill 1 7.4% 11.0% 3.00km 145.6km
Saturday’s Santos Ochre Jersey leader Javier Romo Oliver soloed to the top of the final Willunga summit of the day.
However, inside the final 300m Narvaez used his Ecuadorian climbing experience to claim the famed queen stage atop Willunga Hill.
Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) was second and Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) was third.
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