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Santos Tour Down Under: Simon Gerrans wins again to stretch lead

By Matt Westby

Friday 22 January 2016 08:26, UK

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Highlights of stage four of the Santos Tour Down Under, which was won by Simon Gerrans

Simon Gerrans extended his lead of the Santos Tour Down Under by sprinting to victory for the second day in succession on stage four in Victor Harbor.

The 35-year-old Australian was given a superb lead-out by team-mate Daryl Impey and capitalised by beating Britain's Ben Swift (Team Sky) into second place and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) into third.

Gerrans received 10 bonus seconds for the win, plus another second at an earlier intermediate sprint, which sees him stretch his advantage at the top of the general classification to 14 seconds over second-placed Jay McCarthy (Tinkoff) and 26 seconds over third-placed Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing).

Australia's Simon Gerrans (L) from the Orica Greenedge celebrates as he wins stage four ahead of Britain's Ben Swift from Sky during the Tour Down Under
Image: Gerrans out-sprinted Ben Swift to win stage four

Gerrans said: "I'm absolutely thrilled with that. I have caught a few people by surprise there, myself included. I had a really good run-in to the finish.

"I've got a few Tour Down Unders under my belt now, so I know that finish quite well, as does Daryl."

Gerrans will now look to defend the leader's ochre jersey on Saturday's crucial fifth stage, which ends with a summit finish on Willunga Hill.

Simon Gerrans (C) from the Orica Greenedge receives a kiss as he celebrates on the podium following his victory in stage four of the Tour Down Under
Image: Gerrans now holds a 14-second overall lead

He added: "I still have to be very attentive going into Willunga tomorrow. We have got a nice little buffer there, but there is still a lot of work to be done."

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Dennis and team-mate Richie Porte were the big losers of the day, after both finished eight seconds down on the main bunch.

Santos Tour Down Under 2016 generic
Image: Stage four took the riders 138km from Norwood to Victor Harbor

Stage five takes the riders 151.5km from McLaren Vale to Willunga Hill. Watch it live on Sky Sports 1HD from 12.40am-4.50am GMT on Saturday.

You can also watch highlights of stage four on Sky Sports 4HD from 4.45pm-5.15pm GMT on Friday.

Stage four result

1 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, 3:13:59

2 Ben Swift (GB) Team Sky, same time

3 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, st

4 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Tinkoff, st

5 Leigh Howard (Aus) IAM Cycling, st

6 Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data, st

7 Sergey Lagutin (Rus) Katusha, st

8 Alexey Tsatevich (Rus) Katusha, st

9 Nathan Haas (Aus) Dimension Data, st

10 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) LottoNL-Jumbo, st

General classification

1 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, 13:41:58

2 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Tinkoff, +14secs

3 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing, +26

4 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky, +28

5 Steve Morabito (Sui) FDJ.fr, same time

6 Ruben Fernandez (Esp) Movistar, st

7 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Ag2r-La Mondiale, st

8 Michael Woods (Can) Cannondale, +32

9 Rafael Valls (Esp) Lotto Soudal, +36

10 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing, st

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