Tour Down Under: Oscar Onley wins on Willunga Hill

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Oscar Onley outclimbed the pre-race favourites to win the Tour Down Under stage 5 in Willunga Hill ahead of Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech). The 21-year old British rider claimed his first professional victory and the first win for his squad as  dsm-firmenich PostNL

Onley marked all accelerations from the reduced peloton the second time up the iconic Australian climb. The first real attack came from Chris Harper (Jayco-AlUla) but when Onley covered the move, the Australian slowed down and the small group was back together. Harper then set a hard tempo with his teammate Simon Yates on his wheel. Harper had another go, and Onley went around Yates, to follow the attack with Jhonnatan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers) and Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) but it was all for naught. 

Inside of one kilometre to go, Yates attacked with eight riders on his wheel, including Onley, Narvaez, Williams, Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step), Bart Lemmen (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates). The former world champion went over the top but was soon swarmed until Onley accelerated in the final 150 metres and held on for the win.

Williams came home strong but not strong enough to deny Onley, and he crossed the line in second place, with the same time. Narvaez rounded out the podium.

As Williams and Onley are tied on time in the general classification, Williams claimed the ochre leader’s jersey based on countback. Narvaez moved up to third place overall, five seconds back. The overnight leader Del Toro dropped to fourth, also at five seconds in arrears, while Alaphilippe, Lemmen and Yates are 13 seconds back.

“It’s quite an iconic climb, I think. And to put my name on there is very special," Onley said.

“It’s pretty incredible. I knew I was in good form coming here, and I really wanted to do something on his stages, but yeah, against these guys, I wasn't really sure. I'm really grateful to everyone that's helped get this one."

Williams knew that he had good legs the first time he went up Willunga Hill. “The first time we went up there, it was a good indication to see how you felt and I felt OK the first time up, and I thought I've got some good legs today," he said.

“And then the second time up, I was put into the bottom in a nice position by the boys and then was able to follow the attacks at the end. And have have a bit of a sprint as well. So to come away with this jersey with one day left, I’m really happy. One more day, to try and defend.”

Williams and his team are ready to defend his lead in the final stage that culminates with the double ascent of Mount Lofty. The squad is down one rider as an ailing Corbin Strong did not finish the stage.

“We had a look at the route last week. Tough circuit, demanding circuit. It looks like it's going to be hot again as well, so, we got a very strong team to control and we'll give it everything to hold on to this jersey and see how it goes.”

How it unfolded

The sea breeze did not take the sting out of the early heat at Christies Beach, with riders liberally applying sunscreen and preferring to stay in their air-conditioned vans during sign-on along the coast. 

Two riders abandoned before the start, with Torstein Træen (Bahrain Victorious) succumbing to crash-related injuries and Rüdiger Selig (Astana Qazaqstan) dropping out due to illness. 

Israel–Premier Tech were the last van in the team convoy, a noticeably beefed-up police detail surrounding the outfit amid ongoing pro-Palestine rallies that have not interrupted the race. 

The peloton didn’t seem affected by the heat as race director Stuart O’Grady signaled the start of the stage. 

Casper Pedersen (Soudal Quick-Step) was the first to attack and comprised the main escape of the day, which included Johan Jacobs (Movistar), Samuele Battistella (Astana Qazaqstan), and Liam Walsh (Australian National Team). 

The quartet weren’t allowed much leeway and reached a maximum time gap of just over three minutes, with the peloton some 15 minutes ahead of the fastest calculated speed for the stage at one point. 

Israel-Premier Tech’s title hopes took a hit when it was announced that Corbin Strong, who started the day third on the general classification – two seconds in arrears of overnight race leader Isaac Del Toro (UAE Emirates) – had abandoned with around 50km remaining. 

“Having battled sickness since stage two, Corbin Strong has been forced to abandon due to stomach issues,” the team posted on social media. 

With 35km to go, the escapees had a buffer of 2:05 as riders began to ready for the first ascent of the decisive Willunga Hill climb. 

Pedersen rode off the front of the break with 32km remaining, his three fellow escapees making no apparent attempt to catch the 27-year-old Dane. 

The peloton was spread out wide across the road with 30km left, the gap to Pedersen 1:42, but the pace soon picked up as the approach to Willunga Hill neared, the order at the front of the bunch reshuffling. 

Pedersen had an advantage of around 55 seconds as he began the first ascent of Willunga, the peloton in hot pursuit. With 25km remaining, his advantage was sliced to 41 seconds. 

Damien Howson (Australian National Team) moved to the front the peloton, driving the pace and ushering for teammate Luke Burns to get on his wheel before Pedersen was caught with 22.9km remaining. 

Mountain classification leader Burns took maximum points of the KOM intermediate, ahead of Jardi Van Der Lee (EF Education–EasyPost) before the race came back together for the last, decisive lap. 

The peloton flew down the fast descent hitting speeds of 93kph, pausing to resume the attacks the second time up the hill. Teams jostled for position, taking turns at the front. 

Ben Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) was the first to launch the hostilities with three kilometres to go. Chris Harper (Jayco-AlUla) came to the front, shut down the attack and set a hard tempo to try and dislodge as many riders as possible. Attacks continue to fly up to the finish line.

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