Rohan Dennis wins the Tour Down Under
Wouter Wippert sprints to victory in stage six after Marcel Kittel is involved in crash
Dutch sprinter Wouter Wippert has won the final stage of the Tour Down Under with Rohan Dennis claiming overall title honours.
Wippert (Drapac) claimed a bunch sprint at the end of the 90km criterium final in the Adelaide CBD from Australian national road champion Heinrich Haussler (IAM) and Boris Vallee (Lotto Soudal). Marcel Kittel (Giant-Alpecin) was caught behind a crash at the back of the peloton in the second last lap and did not contest the finish.
The stage victory was significant for Wippert and his Pro Continental Drapac team, which along with the composite UniSA-Australia national squad, is the only non-WorldTour outfit at the event.
“Today was my last chance to win a WorldTour race this season so I won,” Wippert said. “I think it’s the biggest race for the team in the whole year so it’s really, really nice.”
Dennis entered the tour with the aim of supporting BMC leader Cadel Evans in his last WorldTour race before retirement. However, the 24-year-old proved the better climber winning the first hill-top finish in Paracombe on Thursday and holding his position on Willunga Hill with a second place finish yesterday.
“It puts BMC on the top of the WorldTour ranking and for myself hometown, home country, to take the win is a dream come true,” Dennis said. “I think the pressure hasn’t been on me all week and I probably have to thank Cadel for that, and obviously the team as well. It was really easy for me, I could sit in the background and have no pressure for the whole week. It made my life a lot easier.”
Results
Tour Down Under 2015, stage six: Adelaide, 90km
1. Wouter Wippert (Ned) Drapac 1-56-09
2. Heinrich Haussler (Aus) IAM
3. Boris Vallée (Bel) Lotto Soudal
4. Pavel Brutt (Rus) Tinkoff-Saxo
5. Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica-GreenEdge
6. Niccolò Bonifazio (Ita) Lampre-Merida
7. Steele von Hoff (Aus) UniSA-Australia
8. Ruslan Tleubayev (Kaz) Astana
9. Rudiger Selig (Ger) Katusha
10. Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) FDJ.fr
Final overall classification
1. Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC 19-15-18
2. Richie Porte (Aus) Sky at 2 secs
3. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC at 20 secs
4. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin at 22 secs
5. Rubén Fernandez (Spa) Movistar at 24 secs
6. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale at 31 secs
7. Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica-GreenEdge at 35 secs
8. Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Movistar at 52 secs
9. Jarlinson Pantano (Col) IAM at 53 secs
10. George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo at 57 secs