Sam Welsford delivered yet another high-speed victory for Bora-Hansgrohe on stage 4 of the Tour Down Under, winning a bunch kick into Port Elliot on his 28th birthday. The Australian sprinter took his third stage win so far this week ahead of Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) and Lars Boven (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
“I’ve lost the words, mate, that’s crazy,” Welsford said after the finish. “That was such a fast run in and we didn’t know how it would happen, but I just had a good run out of the corner. I wasn’t directly on Danny, but he knew where I was the whole time and I just used the guys in front of me as that lead out.”
“This has been a perfect start to the year for us and really special for me to come into a team and have that backing straight away.”
Welsford has dominated every bunch sprint thus far this week, topping riders like Caleb Ewan, Girmay, and Elia Viviani. His calendar this year is split between a run at the Olympic team pursuit in Paris and his road calendar, which is likely to include the Giro d’Italia.
Overnight GC leader Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) finished in the peloton to maintain the ochre jersey.
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