Porte wins Tour Down Under as Briton Holmes takes final stage

Britain’s Matthew Holmes won the final stage of the Tour Down Under as Australia’s Richie Porte sealed the overall title for the second time.

Tasmanian Porte, 34, has won the Willunga Hill stage in the past six editions of the tour but was beaten up the climb by Lotto-Soudal rider Holmes.

Porte trailed Daryl Impey by two seconds going into the final stage.

But a mass breakaway saw the general classification (GC) usurped as Porte went on to win by 25 seconds.

“Of course it would have been nice to have won the stage, but to win the race again, it’s a fantastic feeling,” said Trek-Segafredo’s Porte, who first won the Tour Down Under in 2017.

“And it was a hard day for our team. There were times there where I thought maybe the GC was over and done with because it was a big group up the road. But credit to the guys – they pretty much singlehandedly brought that all back and it’s a great feeling to finish their work off this week.”

UAE Team Emirates’ Italian rider Diego Ulissi finished second while Germany’s Simon Geschke, of CCC Team, placed third.

Mitchelton-Scott’s Simon Yates – who crashed on stage two – was the highest placed British rider in seventh.

Stage six result

1. Matthew Holmes (GB/Lotto Soudal) 3hrs 24mins 54secs2. Richie Porte (Aus/Trek-Segafredo) +3secs3. Manuele Boaro (Ita/Astana Pro Team) +4secs4. Bruno Armirail (Fra/Groupama-FDJ) +7secs5. Michael Storer (Aus/Team Sunweb) same time6. Diego Ulissi (Ita/UAE Team Emirates) same time7. Simon Geschke (Ger/CCC Team) same time8. Rohan Dennis (Aus/Team Ineos) same time9. Dylan Van Baarle (Ned/Team Ineos) same time10. Simon Yates (GB/Mitchelton-Scott) +23secs

General classification

1. Richie Porte (Aus/Trek-Segafredo) 20hrs 37mins 08secs2. Diego Ulissi (Ita/UAE Team Emirates) +25secs3. Simon Geschke (Ger/CCC Team) same time4. Rohan Dennis (Aus/Team Ineos) same time5. Dylan van Baarle (Ned/Team Ineos) same time6. Daryl Impey (Rsa/Mitchelton-Scott) +30secs7. Simon Yates (GB/Mitchelton-Scott) +37secs8. George Bennett (Nzl/Team Jumbo-Visma) +46secs9. Lucas Hamilton (Aus/Mitchelton-Scott) +52secs10. Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut/Bahrain-McLaren) +54secs