Tour Down Under: Simon Yates and Jayco AlUla struggle to make Willunga Hill hard

Loss of Luke Plapp and short climb works against British climber as group survives to the top

11:30, Saturday 20th January 2024

Matilda Price

Racing News Editor

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Simon Yates and Jayco AlUla took up the pace setting at the Tour Down Under, but to no avail

Jayco AlUla have said that they struggled to make Willunga Hill hard enough for Simon Yates’ capabilities on stage 5 of the Tour Down Under.

On a 3km climb like Willunga Hill, the Australian team wanted to set a tough pace and distance riders in favour of their leader Yates, but found they did not have the horsepower to break things up how they wanted.

In the end, a group of eight riders came into the final 500m together, with Yates only managing sixth behind stage winner Oscar Onley (dsm-firmenich PostNL).

“We wanted to make it a bit harder the first time round, but with Plappy gone we don’t actually have the men to do it,” Yates said at the finish. “No one else really wanted to take it up and it was kind of on us, so there were still quite a lot of fresh guys coming to the final climb.

“Then I just did my best from there. I tried a little bit with just under a kilometre to go, I tried to shake them, but it wasn’t to be.”

Though Yates was clearly disappointed, he levelled that it was more the race situation that foiled him, rather than his or his team's performances.

“It’s not the result we were really hoping for, but we did our best and the guys did a great job. Chris [Harper] was there with me for a long time, really putting the pace on, so that’s all we can ask for really.”

The team had been working hard all day, with Chris Harper in particular putting in a huge turn in the final. Yates actually let Harper’s wheel go, forcing Onley to chase back up to the local Adelaide rider, but it still wasn’t enough to tire the group.

“We needed the climb to be super fast, and Simon likes to be a little bit more explosive, so we were trying to lure a few people out with Chris, which gave [Yates] an opportunity to launch an attack instead of doing it straight from the front,” sports director Mat Hayman explained at the finish.

“We just wanted to try and make it as hard as possible, so Yatesy could have a crack,” Harper echoed. “It’s quite a short, fast climb so it is pretty hard to shake people which we saw today.”

The loss of Australian national champion and all-round animator Luke Plapp to a crash on stage 3 was already a blow to Jayco AlUla, and showed more on stage 6, but there were still positive rides amongst the team.

“It would have been nice if Plappy had stayed on his bike,” Hayman said. “It would have been nice to have that extra rider.

“But as I said, we saw Harper do a great ride. He’s obviously in great form, he was where he needed to be. Simon was protected, he had Kell [O’Brien] with him in the last lap. We were looking for a tailwind up here to make sure it stayed fast, because it’s hard to get away in a headwind, but every time Simon moved he seemed to be checked.”

One final chance on stage 6

Going into the final stage of the men’s Tour Down Under, Jayco AlUla are dangerously close to coming away from this block without a win in either the men’s or women’s races in Adelaide, after Liv Jayco AlUla failed to raise their hands in the three-day women’s race last weekend.

As the home WorldTour team, and an outfit that traditionally sends a strong, motivated group to the Tour Down Under, this would be a disappointing result, and therefore the pressure is on for stage 6.

Despite the lack of wins so far, Yates is sitting in a better position than most, as the winner of last year’s Mount Lofty stage. Whilst he is down on GC leader Stevie Williams (Israel-Premier Tech), 13 seconds is still a manageable deficit.

“[Williams] looked good today, and they have a strong team here today, so that will be tough to overturn,” Yates said. “But I won the stage last year, so I don’t see why not. We can try again, lay it out there and see what we can do.”

As well as being canny about the time bonuses - something that is often decisive in the Tour Down Under - Jayco AlUla will be looking forward to a tougher stage on Sunday, where the Tour de France stage winner Yates may be able to shine on harder terrain.

“He’s a very very crafty rider, he has a lot of experience,” Hayman said of Yates. “This tour has been a lot easier than we expected or would have liked, we can’t make other teams race and everyone wanted to leave it up to this stage. Then tomorrow, hopefully with a bit more fatigue in the legs from today, we’ll see some more gaps tomorrow.”

For more about the 2024 men's Santos Tour Down Under, including the route, startlist and latest standings, visit our dedicated race hub.