The queen stage of the race, with 2 climbs of Willunga
Plenty of early attacks, with 15 riders trying to go clear - Klier, Urtasun, Nepomnyachsniy, Dumoulin, Sijmens, Pozzo, Pinot, Van Aelbroeck, Wolff, Montenegro, R.Feillu, D.Lloyd, Belda, Veikkanen and Stauff. They are caught though, and as they are, Stauff crashes
More attacks before the first sprint, which it taken by Ingels, from Pozzo and Boeckmans
And in the end, the break is made of 14 riders. Krasnoperov, Ingels, Boeckmans, Haavardsholm, Pozzo, Sijmens, Clarke, Loosli, D. Lloyd, Montenegro, Kunitski, R. Feillu, Flickinger and Porte
The pressure could be on Red Bull today, as they look to defend Arashiro's lead, with De Maar moving up to inspect
And here's why, De Maar attacks. Or rather, De Maar counters the attack of Wiggle's Cataldo
Sijmens takes the 2nd sprint, from Boeckmans and Kunitski
De Maar and Cataldo are working well together, bridging across the gap
And onto Willunga we go for the first time
But disaster at the back! The two 100% Me leaders both crash, Froome and Roche, and worse - Froome is being forced to abandon. Its bad for Vespa also, with Steegmans down, along with Milka's Dall'Antonia
As Cataldo and De Maar catch the break
But at the top, it is Ingels who attacks to take the points - and this is crucial, it moves him alongside Capecchi for a joint KoM lead
Kunitski and Montenegro are 2nd and 3rd, which doesnt matter so much - while in the peloton a number of riders attacked - although stopping after the top - including Rooijackers, Gerrans, B. Feillu, Scheirlinckx, Kairelis, Hermans and Sulzberger.
Now onto the descent, and more bad news for Vespa, with Garbelli crashing
Heading to Willunga ascent #2, its just the initial break + Cataldo and De Maar clear, with Red bull now being helped in the chase by IKEA and oddly, Cillit Bang.
So onto Willunga once again, Ingels leads early attacks to try and take the KoM jersey outright (still 6km to the top mind you), with Pozzo, Wolff, Flickinger and R. Feillu following
And attacks from the peloton, with Scheirlinckx, Kairelis, Rast and Pavarin
While up front, Romain Feillu has found himself alone up front
Coenen attacks, but doesnt get far, hitting a 'wall' of riders infront with the break and other attackers being brought back.
Matt Lloyd and Bertagnolli also attack now, as Romain Feillu crosses the climb in 1st
Pozzo is 2nd, Bertagnolli 3rd, and we are left with only Feillu clear
More attacks - Gerrans, a 3rd Wiggle rider - Hermans, and Brice Feillu
So Hermans finds himself with 2 Petronas riders, as well as 2 Feillus
Trying to restore the balance, Bertagnolli attacks again - with Scheirlinckx and Rast
But Hermans doesnt keep the pace, and infact it is just the Petronas duo pushing on
Everyone is caught, so 3 more attackers. Kairelis, Flugel and Pavarin
And theres a split in the bunch now. High placed GC riders losing out include Cavendish, Rowe, Vantomme, Croket and Davis - with them calling teammates back, including Martin, Sulzberger, Diggle and Carrara.
Onto the descent, 10km to go, Kairels, Flugel and Pavarin maintain their slender lead
Matt Lloyd attacks now again, but madness behind! De Maar hits the deck, and a Pokerstars rider is in the process of doing the same!
Bodies everywhere, a number of riders are seeing their Tour Down Under chances wiped out here, including Coenen and the previously active Bertagnolli, as well as multiple others. Its also a huge obstacle for the chase group, frantically trying to catchup, and a number of them get caught up and go down aswell - including the likes of Rowe, Carrara and Martin.
Up front, Kairelis, Flugel and Pavarin are caught as a result of Lloyd's attack - with Lloyd being countered by Impey - and Arashiro!
And look at this, Arashiro powers into the lead with this late attack
So many have been caught out, and even with the uphill drag to the line, have they missed out? Bettini and Scheirlinckx are towards the front as the sprint begins
Matt Lloyd is going strong, and could catch Arashiro. He closes down Impey, but rather than moves past, gets himself stuck behind the South African
And this sets up victory for Yukiya Arashiro! Nobody expected him to win this, his 2nd stage of the race, and he now looks odds on to take the GC too!
Its close for 2nd, with Impey beating Scheirlnckx, Bettini and Lloyd
Just 45 were left in that front group - but in their somewhere is Van Heerden, now back up to 2nd overall.
The next group, of 19 riders, are those dropped over the top of the 2nd Willunga climb, who then successfully dodged the major crash. Ciolek, Bobridge and Sulzberger lead it in, with Cavendish, Croket and Davis up there - but they have lost 1'30
As well as Froome, Odebrecht, Kopp, Lelay and Shapira have all abandoned the race due to injuries.
Barring incident, Arashiro looks well on the way to both the GC and Points clasisifcation. Capecchi and Ingels will share the King of the Mountains, while Van Heerden is favourite to be best young rider - with details on the teams classification also found below.
Teams
Only 5 teams made it to the finish with 3 or more riders in the leading group, and the Top 4 of which will score ranking points after stage 6. To Differentiate between those on equal time, I have added up the finishing positions for each team's top 3 riders in each stage, and combined those scores. So Pendleton's Twicer are the leading team, and in a favourable position to hold off Vespa-Caffreys on the final stage
