Tour Down Under stage 5

After setting himself up nicely for a tilt at the overall through a week of solid racing, Gorka Izagirre let himself down with an off-colour performance in today's all-important penultimate stage to the top of Old Willunga Hill. As a 30-or-so strong lead-group formed as the peloton went over the climb the first time around, Izagirre was conspicuous by his absence. As was Euskaltel altogether. The 24-year-old eventually went on to finish 44th at a big 4:02, and thus ceding all hopes of a top GC placing. R Pérez and García trailed 7:09 by stage's end in 64th and 65th respectively, while Sicard proved he's still finding his feet with a 70th place, 7:41 down on classy winner Valverde. Sáez finished up 88th at 12:02, while Urtasun and Cabedo crossed the line inside the gruppetto at 16:42.

Post-race, Izagirre was at a loss to explain his performance. "I didn't perform as I had expected to. The performance doesn't reflect my state of form though, but I don't know why I wasn't at my best. The heat... I don't know what happened. I didn't do well and I wasn't at my game", the 24-year-old told the team's website. "Though I didn't do well, I'd like to thank my team for the work they've done throughout this race. They've been with me all the time, and I hope I can pay them back in the future".

GC:

• 40, Gorka Izagirre, 4:12
• 55, Romain Sicard, 15:36
• 57, Rubén Pérez, 17:15
• 85, Adrián Sáez, 25:52
• 88, Ricardo García, 27:29
• 125, Pablo Urtasun, 46:23
• 130, Victor Cabedo, 47:25