By Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Guardian Nigeria
Published on 2024-01-21 10:01:50
Welshman Stephen Williams emerged victorious in the sixth stage up Mount Lofty and secured the Tour Down Under crown in Adelaide on Sunday. Williams, riding for Israel-Premier Tech, surged away from his competitors in the summit finish to beat Ecuador’s Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers) and Mexican Isaac del Toro Romero (UAE Team Emirates) in the final dash to the finish line.
Williams, who was tied on time with Scotland’s Oscar Onley but led the race on countback after the penultimate stage, solidified his overall victory with a determined finish to the 128-kilometre final stage and the day’s third climb up the 710-metre Mount Lofty. With a race time of 19 hours 13 minutes 34 seconds over the six stages totaling 824.6 km, Williams finished 9 seconds ahead of Narvaez, with Del Toro Romero trailing by 11 seconds.
The victory made Williams the first British winner in the 24th staging of the Tour Down Under. Reflecting on his win, Williams expressed his gratitude for achieving such a milestone in the first world tour race of the season in Australia.
Williams strategically bided his time, staying on the wheels of his competitors until making a powerful finishing burst that left them unable to match his pace. He described the finish as perfect for his style of riding and credited his ability to read the situation and capitalize on it, ultimately securing his victory.
Onley, the winner of Saturday’s fifth stage, finished 21st in the final stage to claim fourth place overall, 20 seconds behind Williams. He was followed by Dutchman Bart Lemmen (Team Visma) in fifth place. France’s double world champion Julian Alaphilippe and Britain’s Simon Yates finished sixth and seventh overall, respectively.
The points classification was won by Australia’s triple-stage winner Sam Welsford (Bora-hansgrohe), while the mountain classification was claimed by Luke Burns (Australian National Team).
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