Australia's Allan Davis remained in control of the Tour Down Under after Stage 4 on Friday. The cyclist for Quick Step beat Thursday's winner Graeme Brown in the final sprint and held onto the race leader's ochre jersey for a third day.
Whether his dominance will survive two trips up Willunga Hill — the tour's toughest climb — on Saturday remains to be seen.
Some are saying that if Lance Armstrong, who sits 39 seconds out of 1st in 38th place, has any chance at all, it will be on the two climbs up Willunga on Stage 5. But other cyclists, like Aussie Stuart O'Grady in 4th place, are in a better position to make winning time on the stage. Said Armstrong:
“I think I can be there; I know I won’t be riding away. These guys are strong, and again, it depends a little on the wind tomorrow. If there’s a headwind like in training, it will be hard for anyone to ride away.”
Armstrong finished in a large group with the same time, minus bonus, as Davis on Friday. His description of Stage 4 on Twitter:
“Another windy, nervous day in the bunch. The boys (me included!) were a little tired from yesterday. Tomorrow's the hard day.”
Stage 4
The 89-mile ride from Burnside Village to Angaston, much of it through South Australia vineyards, was a little bit of a kick-back from yesterday's grueling race which saw the defending champion, Andre Greipel, suffer a race-ending injury after colliding with a motorcycle.
Andoni Lafuente (Euskaltel – Euskadi), Vladimir Efimkin (AG2R La Mondiale) and Travis Meyer (UniSA) gained nearly 10 minutes on the peloton as the day's main breakaway, but the sprinter's team pulled them back into the fold.
The Rabobank and Quick Step teams both made moves at the end. Davis grabbed Brown's wheel and jumped past him for the finish.
Citizen ride
Stage 4 was also the Mutual Community Challenge bike ride for 7,100 cyclists, the most every in the fund-raiser. They left Burnside Village early in the morning to ride the entire race route. CyclingNews reports four were injured during the ride.
Stage 5
The penultimate stage of the 2009 Tour Down Under begins at 11 a.m. Saturday in South Australia. That's 7:30 p.m. Friday (eastern time), 4:30 p.m. (Pacific). It ends about 11:15 p.m. Friday (eastern time), 8:15 p.m. (Pacific). CyclingNews is a good source for live race updates; ABC Radio in Adelaide carries update through the race and the finish.
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