Carnage in the sprint to Mt Barker

There was carnage at the finish of yesterday’s 144.5km Tour Down Under Stage 4 from Glenelg to Mt Barker.

The stage ended in a frantic, shoulder-to-shoulder dash for the finish. Australian criterium champion Steele Von Hoff (UniSA) lead Daryl Impey (Orica-Greenedge) and Wouter Wippert (Drapac) across the line.

The leaders narrowly avoided the crash at 170m to go on the dead straight run-in. Several riders went down hard, in particular Maarten Tjallingii (Lotto-Jumbo) flying spectacularly over the bars, Lorrenzo Manzin (FDJ) and Aleksei Tcatevich (Katusha) leaving a lot of skin on the road, and Travis Meyer (Drapac) hitting the barriers and fracturing his wrist.

We certainly hope this doesn’t significantly affect anyone’s preparations ahead of the spring classics. Travis Meyer was in good spirits this morning before heading home.

Photos copyright eurocyclist.com