Sergio Henao praised the efforts of his teammates revealing it was ‘all or nothing’ following a tough battle up Willunga Hill on stage five of the Tour Down Under.
Henao finished eighth as Richie Porte (BMC) claimed his fourth straight win on the famous climb with the Colombian knowing he had an uphill task to get a place on the podium.
After being well-placed by Kenny Elissonde and Sebastian Henao in the closing stages, the Colombian was the sole challenger to runaway leader Porte with 1km to go, knowing a stage win would boost his hopes of an overall podium place.
Throwing caution to the wind, he pulled away from his general classification rivals, pressing Porte, only to be caught in the closing metres to drop down from second to eighth.
Despite the disappointment, Henao insisted he had little option after a double puncture on stage two had dented his Ochre jersey hopes.
“The team put on a really strong pace at the bottom of the climb, to put me in a strong position.”, Henao told teamsky.com.
“There was a gap starting to form ahead of the other guys but I knew I had to continue on and I knew it would be difficult to follow Richie up the hill.
“I was trying to get a place on the podium. It was all or nothing.’
