Sam Welsford wins 4th stage of Tour Down Under. Isaac del Toro still leads overall

ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — Sam Welsford marked his 28th birthday on Friday by winning the fourth stage of the Tour Down Under cycling race in a chaotic sprint finish.

Welsford also won the first and third stages in bunch finishes, through polished lead-out work by his Bora Hansgrohe teammates.

Friday’s 136-kilometer (84-mile) stage from Murray Bridge to Port Elliot ended in a more disordered sprint as riders finished in the seaside town in a strong cross tailwind.

Ryan Mullen tried to provide the lead out for Welsford, then Danny van Poppel. Welsford lost van Poppel’s wheel some distance from the finish but tacked onto the wheels of Jhonatan Narvaez and Ilia Viviani from the British team Ineos Grenadiers.

He was too strong in the finish, sprinting away to win the stage from Biniam Girmay of Eritrea and Lars Boven of the Netherlands.

“I’m lost for words. It’s just crazy,” Welsford said. “That was such a fast run in.

“I don’t know what happened but I had a good run out of the corner. I wasn’t able to stay with Danny but he knew where I was all of the time. I just used the guys in front of me as a lead out and it’s just amazing. It’s been a perfect start to the year for us.”

Girmay put himself in a good position despite the changing nature of the finish and came home strongly for second. The Intermache-Wanty rider said he is at a different stage of his preparation than Welsford, about 10kgs lighter, and that Welsford is the best sprinter in the race at this stage.

Isaac del Toro Romero of Mexico retained the overall lead but only by a second from Corbin Strong of New Zealand with Axel Mariault of France third.

Sprinters are likely to be less prominent in the last two stages on Saturday and Sunday which both feature hilltop finishes. Saturday’s stage finishes atop Willunga Hill and Sunday’s final stage finishes on Mount Lofty.

Del Toro is well-placed to be competitive on both of those stages.

“It’s a happy day today and tomorrow is another, more complicated,” del Toro said. “It’s a sprint situation today and I didn’t want to take a lot of risk.

“I hope to stay good for the next two days.”

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