Ryder Hesjedal Tour Down Under diary – Stage 5: Return to Willunga Hill

by Aaron S. Lee

The climb up Australia’s Willunga Hill is only a little more than 3 km long with only 222 m in elevation. It’s a far cry from the 24.3-km Passo dello Stelvio that peaks at 2,758 m in elevation.

The Stelvio is a climb Canada’s first Grand Tour winner Ryder Hesjedal (Cannondale-Garmin) encountered on Stage 20 the day before winning the 2012 Giro d’Italia—the same year the Victoria native raced the Tour Down Under in Adelaide.

But nevertheless, a pro cyclist’s legs in January can be a far cry from his legs in May. The last time Hesjedal raced Willunga Hill he was spit off the back on the second of two climbs the stage is synonymous for.

On Saturday, Hesjedal and his Cannondale-Garmin teammates, including general classification (GC) hopeful Nathan Haas, twice took on the infamous hill with an average gradient of 7.5 per cent.

“Willunga can be tough, especially this time of year,” Hesjedal told Canadian Cycling Magazine. “I was actually more comfortable this year, but it’s hard to say since the last time I raced here was three years ago.

“First time up was pretty hard,” he continued. “These stages are pretty short and intense races here and you really have to be on to be competing in the final.”

The three-time Olympian helped deliver four Cannondale-Garmin riders, Jack Bauer (NZL), Lasse Norman Hansen (DEN), Davide Villella (ITA) and Moreno Moser (ITA) into the split after the first ascent up Willunga was claimed by ex-Garmin teammate and former race leader Jack Bobridge (UniSA), who clinched the king of the mountain classification in the process.

Back-to-back Willunga stage winner Richie Porte (Team Sky) attacked Cadel Evans (BMC), Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) and current race leader Rohan Dennis (BMC) with 1.2 km to go. Fewer than 200 m later, only Porte and Dennis remained before the 2013 Paris-Nice winner broke the band at 600 m and rode away with the stage win for the second straight year.

Dennis (AUS) remains two seconds ahead of Porte (AUS) and 20 seconds ahead of teammate and retiring Tour de France winner Cadel Evans (AUS) in GC with one stage remaining.

As for Cannondale-Garmin’s GC hopes, Haas (AUS) struggled on the day after the 144.5-km Stage 4 from Glenelg to Mount Barker, which ended in a mass pileup in the final 100 m, which involved two dozen riders including Haas.

“Nathan was suffering today,” said Hesjedal. “It’s not that big of a surprise considering yesterday’s crash. Sure it’s a bit disappointing for him, but that’s the way it goes and it’s character building.”

Haas is now 9 minutes 13 seconds back in GC after Stage 5, after being in the top 10 before the uphill finish atop the Paracombe on Thursday’s Stage 3. However, both Moser and Villella, who finished eighth and 18th respectively, each sit inside the top 20 at 19th and 20th each.

“We all had pretty good position in the latter half of the race,” said Hesjedal. “We had four guys in the front split.

“I was just off the back at the top and just sort of miscalculated a little bit on the first climb on Willunga, but it wouldn’t have mattered for me personally.

“I couldn’t connect with a couple of guys and one of them was Maxime Bouet (Etixx-QuickStep) and he was high on the GC and I didn’t really want to drag him up there,” he continued. “Tomorrow is a big day as we want to hang on to the two spots in the top 20 for points, so you have to be happy for that.”

The race concludes on Sunday’s Stage 6 featuring a 20-lap, 90-km city circuit that is sure to favour German sprinting sensation Marcel Kittel (Giant-Alpecin), who opened the People’s Choice Classic criterium last Sunday.

Aaron S. Lee (@aaronshanelee) is a pro cycling columnist for Eurosport and a guest contributor to Canadian Cycling Magazine. Aaron will be providing daily race reports with Ryder Hesjedal during the Tour Down Under exclusively for CCM.