Tour Down Under loses its last bit of suspense after another crash, Visma | Lease a Bike misses next chance
CyclingSaturday, 24 January 2026 at 09:49
The Tour Down Under suffered a heavy blow to the suspense about the overall win in the Australian stage race in Stage 4. In a heat-shortened stage, Jhonatan Narváez, second in the general classification, crashed hard and was forced to abandon. His teammate Jay Vine now looks set for overall victory, with Ethan Vernon taking the stage win.
ADVERTISEMENT
Stage 4 in Australia was already re-shaped on day five before it really began. With expected temperatures well above 40 °C, the organisers were forced to remove the traditional route over Willunga Hill, and there was even doubt about whether the stage would start at all amid the risk of wildfires. A challenging 176 km stage was thus reduced to 130.8 km with few obstacles.
A day for the sprinters, then: they’d already had opportunities on Stages 2 and 4, and now got another go. Even though the final 600 m in the new finish town of Willunga featured a rise of around 3–4 %, timing was crucial — and being in the right place at all. Visma | Lease a Bike failed in that respect.
ADVERTISEMENT
Continue reading below the photo
Visma | Lease a Bike went Saturday for Matthew Brennan
UAE Emirates-XRG sees Narváez abandon the race
ADVERTISEMENT
For the overall contenders it was mainly about staying upright. Leader Jay Vine managed that mission, but Narváez did not finish. The Ecuadorian was six seconds behind his teammate in the general classification, which meant the two were still set for a battle in the final two days. Narváez won last year’s Tour Down Under, so Vine appeared the most likely challenger.
In a stage defined early on by a three-man break (including strong riders Matthew Greenwood, Luke Plapp and Rémi Cavagna), it soon became the end of the line for Narváez. The punchy UAE Emirates-XRG rider was suddenly alone on the asphalt, and it was immediately clear something was very wrong. Reports quickly came in that he had abandoned. He was found to have fractures from the crash.
Continue reading below the video
Van Poppel also fails to finish, Vernon sprints to victory
ADVERTISEMENT
The three early leaders were given a maximum of just under four minutes’ gap, but there were plenty of sprint trains in control behind. After news that UAE domestique Vegard Stake Laengen and Dutch champion Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) had also abandoned, it was the wind that made the peloton start to chase.
Once calm returned, it was mainly Visma | Lease a Bike that held control, and with 24 km to go the early escapees were already caught. This led to a long lead-out by the sprint trains — with NSN ultimately looking the strongest. Vernon crossed the line fastest in an uphill sprint, ahead of Tobias Lund Andresen and Laurence Pithie. Visma | Lease a Bike had no answer, with Brennan finishing sixteenth.
IDL-productions
Vacancy: Growth Editor IDL Procycling - (native) English
Favorites stage 5 Tour Down Under 2026 | Will Brennan capitalize, or will others prevail in Visma's last chance?
Tiesj Benoot calls for action: ‘We all need to stop riding at the front when Van der Poel and Pogacar are there’
UAE top talent faces important and busy spring, already picks out Giro stage and recalls 'heart-stopping' moment
Unibet Rose Rockets revelation Lukáš Kubiš raises the bar even higher for 2026
Latest Cycling News
Vacancy: Growth Editor IDL Procycling - (native) English
Favorites stage 5 Tour Down Under 2026 | Will Brennan capitalize, or will others prevail in Visma's last chance?
Jay Vine hopes for a helping hand from Visma | Lease a Bike as UAE’s control threatens to break apart before final stage
Tiesj Benoot calls for action: ‘We all need to stop riding at the front when Van der Poel and Pogacar are there’
‘It’s disappointing, but there’s nothing we can do,’ says Visma | Lease a Bike after another setback for Brennan
Popular Cycling News
🎥 Whoosh! Vingegaard shows the difference between an ordinary person and a two-time Tour winner
Tour Down Under almost featured Tadej Pogačar, organisers left frustrated by near miss
Visma | Lease a Bike pinpoints what went wrong with Brennan while winner Welsford is celebrating
Belgians name big advantage of Chile trip with Pidcock: 'Not comparable to Europe'
Heart problems keep Sam Bennett on the sidelines: “I can only do what my body allows”
Latest Comments
- Nice!Bea22-01-2026
- Those events are mental rest for him. Fun, without expectations. *Sagan lost his abilities because he gained weight and got lazy. Pogi will likely retire before that has a chance at happening.Veganpotter14-12-2025
- Ah, the consequences of riding for Israel.Veganpotter11-12-2025
- Pidcock could follow everyone but Pogi while finishing 3rd. No second place rider this season😃Veganpotter16-11-2025
- Now the Palestinian protestors can stop their whining. Trump came to the rescue. So they can now STFU and go back to waving the rainbow flags.raufus15-10-2025
- Cracked the code lol. If it was that easy to 'crack the code' jonny Vegas would be charging up the Kwaremont giving Pog a dose of his medicine. Evenepoel can't match pog on a climb and neither can mvdp. Anything with a half difficult climb and Pog smashes the field. Even on flat(ish)parcours like Roubaix it came down to a mistake and crash by pog to definitively crown mvdp. MSR is the only one that Pog probably won't win.kevpt10-10-2025
- We've seen this movie before. I think Pogacar is doping.DeadBlow10-10-2025
- 👍Bea08-10-2025
- 👌🏻Bea08-10-2025
- What the data doesn't show is how much of an effect drafting had for evenepoel. Pogacar went with del toro at 100km whilst Evenepoel was still in the bunch. Despite the bike changes he still had a lot of assistance getting back to the bunch. Pogacar then rode 60km solo whilst evenepoel rode with Healy/Skjelmose until going solo in thd last 10-15km. Thats ~20% less power / energy requirements for 45-50km. Apples and oranges...kevpt30-09-2025
Loading
