Refresh
Lopez can see the riders up ahead on the very long and straight road – so close and yet so far.
The break of 4 now have 4:17 on the peloton, as Lopez is 30 seconds back, still chasing solo with 103km to go.
Crash
Peloton is cresting Willunga and now starting the descent.
Lopez is going 94kmph on the descent as he chases the 4 up the road.
Hold on – this is a very fast descent!
Break have crested Willunga and are now descending down in the opposite direction to the finish
Swift is leading the break who are not slowing down to allow Lopez to join back. They are going around 44kmph.
The four at the front have 2:50 on the field. Lopez is 28 seconds behind them with 113km to go, as Torres rejoins the peloton.
Caught in no mans land, Lopez chats with his director as his team car comes next to him. Continue to chase or sit up?
Torres sat up and will rejoin the peloton.
Lopez is chasing solo now.
The quartet now have 1:41 with 120 km to go.
The four are pushing the pace at the front and now Swift is contribution in the rotation now.
More attacks in the front group. Torres and Lopez waited for the other four riders who had hatched a plan. They accelerated past as soon at they caught the duo and surprise them.
Lopez takes top points on KOM #1, just in front of Torres who did not really contest, that must have been the conversation. Break has 2:12 on the peloton
Lopez and Torres have a quick chat.
Torres and Lopez see 1km to go to the top.
The remaining 4 riders in the break are climbing at their own pace.
Torres and Lopez are cooperating in the pacesetting with 2km to go to top of Wickham Hill.
Torres gets on Lopez’s wheel, and they’ve opened a gap to the rest of the break.
Lopez attacks the break with 2.6km to the top and Torres is the first to react.
Break is attacking each other, they simply don’t want Torres with them. Meanwhile, Movistar took its place at the front of the peloton followed by PostNL.
5 km to cat.1 Wickham Hill in McLaren Flat, which extends over three kilometres, 6.9% gradient and hits a maximum gradient of 13.3%
Still lots of chatter in the break, which seems to be about Torres, even if Torres is working with the group.
Swift showed that he wasn’t happy with Torres being in the break since he sits only 35 seconds down on GC. Swift is working for his teammate Sheffield.
Break
Lopez bridged across to the break making it 6 up the road.
The five riders have a small gap with 136.5km to go. Torres is 35 seconds down on GC.
Eenkhoorn, Hepburn, Ben Swift and Torres bridge up to Bleddyn
Bleddyn attacks solo, with a few more riders trying to bridge.
Lidl does’t want to miss it, tries to bridge up and brings the field with him.
Peloton is chasing. Ineos, Intermache, FDJ, Australia, Jayco all represented in this 7-rider move.
Hepburn jumps across with a few more riders joining this attack.
Peloton shuts it down and FDJ & Australia counters.
Big group still has a few seconds, includes Durbridge, Askey.
More riders trying to join the now 12 riders with a gap. And more action from behind shuts down this attack.
7 riders with a few seconds with more tyring to bridge up. Back of the peloton is single file.
Soudal continues to accelerate.
Swift also jumped, and more riders follow.
Another attack by Soudal, this time it’s Pedersen with Durbridge following the move.
Arkea, Australia, Jayco all covering moves as the peloton goes up a slight uphill.
Eenkhoorn made the first attack with plenty of riders trying to get into the breakaway. It’s going to be pure chaos trying to get away today.
And immediate attack from 3 riders.
And we’re off and racing!
Last year, Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) won the Willunga stage, and almost beat the strava record.
We’re riding through the 2.4 neutral zone before Stuart O’Grady drops the flag at KM 0.
Perfect weather to tackle Willunga today, with temperatures at 24C and mostly sunny.
It’s the big day – Willunga!
Stage 3 winner Javier Romo (Movistar) tops the GC with a 4-second lead on Jhonathan Narvaez (UAE Team Emirates XRG), and 10 seconds on Patrick Konrad (Lidl-Trek) and Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe).
Welcome to Cyclingnews’ live coverage of stage 5, from McLaren Vale to Willunga Hill, of the Tour Down Under. The stage starts at 11:10am local time or 12:30am GMT and finishes roughly four hours later.
