ADELAIDE: Ecuador’s Jhonatan Narvaez won a heart-pumping climb up Willunga Hill in one of the great finishes in the Tour Down Under to close in on the season-opening UCI World Tour race on Saturday.

Narvaez (UAE Team Emirates) surged clear near the summit of the lung-busting 3.3km final climb to claim the fifth stage over Britain’s Oscar Onley (Team Picnic PostNL) and New Zealand’s Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).

The explosive finishing sprint, rewarded with bonus seconds, gave Narvaez a nine-second buffer in the general classification over ochre jersey leader Spain’s Javier Romo (Movistar Team) heading into Sunday’s sprint stage around the streets of Adelaide.

Narvaez did the hard part up Willunga and only needs to avoid a mishap and finish the race on Sunday to become the first rider from Ecuador to win the Tour Down Under.

“It was a hard day, it was not easy when everyone is telling you that you are the favourite, but in the end we made it,” Narvaez said.

Narvaez, who was runner-up to Welshman Stephen Williams at last year’s Tour Down Under, said it was satisfying to go one better this time.

“You have kept trying and trying until you win the races,” he said.

It is the first race for 27-year-old Narvaez with his new team after five years with Ineos Grenadiers.

Romo made an audacious bid to retain the leader’s jersey with a solo attack early up Willunga Hill.

But he was reeled in with 700 metres left and crossed the line fifth to relinquish his leader’s jersey to Narvaez.

“It was a difficult day. I attacked with three kilometres to go but the others were stronger than me,” Romo said.

He conceded that he had no winning chance heading into Sunday’s sprint stage finish.

“To be honest, it’s not possible because I am not a sprinter, the others are faster than me. I tried to win today, but I did not.”

Fergus Browning (ARA Australian Team) claimed the King of the Mountain title with 58 points from Swiss Mauro Schmid (Team Jayco AlUla) on 27.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2025