Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) hung on up the torturous final Willunga Hill to become the first cyclist to win back-to-back titles at Tour Down Under outside Adelaide on Sunday.
Impey dug in to take this year’s general classification behind sixth-stage winner Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) up the physically-demanding three-kilometre climb to the finish line.
The Mitchelton-Scott rider beat Porte by 13 seconds in the general classification with Wouter Poels (Team Sky) a further four seconds away in third place overall.
No one has won consecutive titles in the 21 years of the Tour Down Under, while Porte, the 2017 Tour winner, has been runner-up four times.
“I never dreamed to come here and win twice in a row,” Impey said.
“Every year we come here with strong ambitions. I knew the competition is always tough. I just believed in myself, and it was just fantastic to pull it off.”
It was Porte’s sixth-consecutive victory up the notorious Willunga Hill stage but knowing he needed to win by 10 seconds to beat Impey, he sat up out of his saddle and gave everything to try to pinch the title at the summit.
But even though Porte reigned supreme yet again up the hill, Impey did enough to finish a few metres behind him and Poels, to secure the race’s GC.
Tour Down Under 2019 – stage 6 results (McLaren Vale – Willunga Hill):
| 1 | Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) | 3:30:14 |
| 2 | Wout Poels (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 3 | Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 4 | Rohan Dennis (Bahrain-Merida) | +03” |
| 5 | Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) | +06” |
| 6 | Chris Hamilton (Team Sunweb) | +10” |
| 7 | Michael Woods (EF Education First) | +15” |
| 8 | Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) | +17” |
| 9 | Tom-Jelte Slagter (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 10 | Dries Devenyns (Deceuninck-QuickStep) | ,, |
Tour Down Under 2019 – final general classification:
| 1 | Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) | 20:30:42 |
| 2 | Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) | +13” |
| 3 | Wout Poels (Team Sky) | +17” |
| 4 | Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) | +19” |
| 5 | Rohan Dennis (Bahrain-Merida) | +26” |
| 6 | Chris Hamilton (Team Sunweb) | +33” |
| 7 | Michael Woods (EF Education First ) | +38” |
| 8 | Ruben Guerreiro (Katusha-Alpecin) | +40” |
| 9 | Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 10 | Dries Devenyns (Deceuninck-QuickStep) | ,, |
