Caleb Ewan doubles up in Tour Down Under

Caleb Ewan won a second stage of the Tour Down Under on Friday as Richie Porte’s overall race lead was clipped to just three seconds by Daryl Impey.

Ewan sprinted past Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) to win the fourth stage of the race at Murray Bridge. Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates) was third ahead of Andre Greipel.

“It was a very tough corner before the finish,” Ewan said. “I just told my last man to put me on the wheel of Sam Bennett, and that’s what he did. That’s exactly where I wanted to be on that last corner.”

Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) struggled in the crosswinds late in the stage but finished safely in the bunch and maintained his overall lead, although it was cut in half by Impey.

“Days like this there’s so much to lose. It was a hectic last 60 kilometres. It was a good day to get through unscathed,” Porte said.

“We expected that Daryl would go for the time bonuses. To still have the (leader’s) jersey going into tomorrow is a great feeling.

“Tomorrow in Victor Harbor, you never know what is going to happen with the wind, but I think we did a great job today. I think we are in a good position.”

Impey, seeking three consecutive wins in Australia, claimed three crucial bonus seconds in the intermediate sprints and moved to within three seconds of the race leader.

“We will go for everything we can. We know it’s going to be hard to beat Richie on Sunday,” Impey said.

“We will need a buffer to try to win the race overall, so any chance we can get, we are going to go for it and we did that today. We will keep going for it, our tactics don’t change.”

Tour Down Under 2020 – stage 4 results (Norwood – Murray Bridge):

Tour Down Under 2020 – general classification after stage 4: