01/23/26 09:48:00
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01/23 21:43 CST Jay Vine retains the overall lead in the Tour Down Under as
Jhonatan Narvaez crashes out
Jay Vine retains the overall lead in the Tour Down Under as Jhonatan Narvaez
crashes out
ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) --- Britain's Ethan Vernon won the dramatic fourth
stage of the Tour Down Under cycle race Saturday which was shortened because of
high temperatures and which saw defending champion Jhonatan Narvaez forced to
abandon the tour after crashing.
Narvaez's UAE Team Emirates teammate Jay Vine of Australia retains a lead of
more than a minute on general classification ahead of the final stage of the
tour on Sunday.
Saturday's 176-kilometer (109-mile) stage was supposed to favor climbers,
finishing with three grueling ascents of Old Wilunga Hill.
Instead, the stage was reduced to 131 kilometers (81 miles) as temperatures
soared over 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) and the final climbs were
removed because of the extreme fire risk on the bush-clad hill.
The stage ended in a bunch sprint on a long, slow rise to Wilunga township
which Vernon (NSN Cycling Team) won from Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA
CGM Team) of Denmark and Laurence Pithie (Bora Hansgrohe) of New Zealand.
"Considering the stage wasn't meant to be (a sprint) 24 hours ago, to turn
around and do that ... was outrageous," Vernon said. "I was sitting there
feeling quite comfy with 250 meters to go, so I went and I got a gap and held
it to the line.
"Everyone was suffering in the heat but the boys did a really good job of
keeping me cool. I saw guys suffering and I kept it calm because I wasn't
suffering in the heat."
Vine and Narvaez were first and second on general classification coming into
the fourth stage, 1 minute, 5 seconds ahead of their nearest rival. At the end
of the stage, Vine led by 1 minute, 3 seconds from Mauro Schmid (Team Jayco
Alula) of Switzerland with Harry Sweeney (EF Education EasyPost) a further nine
seconds back.
The final stage Sunday will be an undulating one, covering 169 kilometers (105
miles).
The race suffered a major shock when Narvaez crashed early Saturday and was
ruled out of the tour on medical advice. A second crash with 84 kilometers (52
miles) remaining split the peleton and caused the withdrawal of another UAE
rider.
After an early break Matthew Greenwood and Luke Plapp of Australia and Remy
Cavagna of France stayed away from the peleton for most of the stage, leading
by up to 2 minutes, 30 seconds.
Plapp started the stage 1 minute, 57 seconds behind Vine and that advantage
made him the overall leader on the road at times. Cavagna dropped off with
around 48 kilometers (29 miles) to ride and Greenwood and Plapp finally were
caught 23.7 kilometers (14 miles) from the finish.
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AP cycling: https://apnews.com/hub/cycling
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