Tour Down Under 2024: On his birthday: Welsford strikes for the third time

Welfsford now has three wins from four attempts. He has won all three classic bunch sprints, he was not part of the big group on the 2nd stagewho decided the victory among themselves. After crossing the finish line, he could think of nothing more than shaking his head and clutching his helmet with his hand. "I'm speechless," said Welsford in the winner's interview. And you could tell that he was really starting to run out of words. "It's really special for me to join a new team and get this support straight away. In the end, the win is a reward for the hard work the guys have put in all week."

Not everything went as smoothly as usual in the final. Even before the last bend, with around 500 metres to go, Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty) and the two Ineos Grenadiers pros Jhonatan Narvaez and Elia Viviani had forced their way between Welsford and his last rider Danny van Poppel. The Ineos duo then opened the sprint at the 300 metre mark, but this turned out to be too early on a slight climb. While the two were eventually passed, Welsford utilised their slipstream for a while and then pulled away to ultimately win once again in commanding style.

Girmay comes within a second of del Toro

The two German sprinters Max Kanter (Movistar) and Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) crossed the finish line in seventh and ninth place. They were initially well positioned on Welsford's rear wheel. However, when the eventual winner made an irresistible move, they both opened up a gap and were eventually pinned.

Thanks to the bonus seconds that Girmay was able to collect in second place, the Eritrean moved to within one second of Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) in the overall standings, but the latter was able to defend the ochre-coloured leader's jersey once again. Meanwhile, Welsford extended his lead in the points classification. Luke Burns (Australian national team) also defended his mountains jersey.

Stage 4 was the last chance for the sprinters. Two small mountain finishes on Willunga Hill and Mount Lofty await this weekend, which will shake things up again in the overall standings.

>> Tour Down Under 2024: Stages and start list

>> Tour Down Under 2024: All men's and women's results at a glance

>> Tour Down Under 2024: The favourites for overall victory

Tour Down Under 2024 - Results: The top 10 of stage 4

1. Sam Welsford (Bora-Hansgrohe) 2:59:50
2. Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty) +0:00
3. Lars Boven (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +0:00
4. Milan Fretin (Cofidis) +0:00
5. Laurance Pithie (Groupama-FDJ) +0:00
6. Gonzalo Serrano (Movistar) +0:00
7. Max Kanter (Astana Qazaqstan Team) +0:00
8. Antoine Huby (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:00
9. Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:00
10. Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech) +0:00

The current standings in the overall standings

1. Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) 13:15:54
2. Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty) +0:01
3. Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech) +0:02
4. Axel Mariault (Cofidis) +0:05
5. Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) +0:07
6. Lars Boven (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +0:07
7. Stefan de Bod (EF Education EasyPost) +0:07
8. Georg Zimmermann (Intermarche-Wanty) +0:08
9. Finn Fisher-Black (UAE Team Emirates) +0:08
10. Louis Barre (Arkea-B&B Hotels) +0:09

How the 4th stage of the Tour Down Under went

On the 136 kilometres between Murray Bridge and Port Elliot, which had to do without Luke Plapp (Team Jayco-AlUla) who had crashed the day before, little happened at first. A good ten kilometres had already been completed before Jackson Medway (Australian national team) and the Brazilian Vinicius Rangel (Movistar) broke away from the peloton.

The duo, who split the two intermediate sprints along the way, built up a lead of more than five minutes before Bora and Astana got a little more serious in the chase. The duo also made it to the day's mountain classification, where Burns secured the last two remaining points from the peloton, but were finally caught around ten kilometres from the end.

At this point, Ineos was leading the field, Bora had dropped back a little and held back until the absolute final. Bora only returned to the lead in the last 1000 metres or so. Perhaps a little too late, as Welsford lost van Poppel's rear wheel due to the somewhat more hectic pace at the front. In the end, however, it was just right, as Ineos put their cards on the table too early in the final and Welsford once again rode to victory.