ADELAIDE: Ethan Vernon won a shortened fourth stage of the Tour Down Under in brutal heat on Saturday, with Jay Vine remaining on course to claim the overall title.
British sprinter NSN broke away from the finish line in the township of Willunga to win the penultimate stage ahead of Dane Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Australian Laurence Pithie (Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe).
Vine overcame the loss of UAE Team Emirates teammate and defending champion Jhonatan Narvaez in an early stage crash to protect his substantial lead in the overall standings heading into Sunday’s final stage.
Vine, the 2023 winner, finished safely in the peloton and holds a 1min 3sec buffer over Switzerland’s Mauro Schmid (Team Jayco AlUla) with a further nine seconds over Australia’s Harry Sweeny (EF Education-Easypost).
It was Vernon’s first World Tour stage victory since beating compatriot Matthew Brennan in the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya last March.
“I was sitting pretty comfortably with 250m to go and I took a gap and stayed to the line, but everyone was suffering from the heat and the (NSN) boys did a really good job of keeping me cool,” Vernon said.
Vine had to deal with the brutal loss of his closest GC rival, Narvaez, who crashed just minutes into the stage and was taken to hospital for observation for a concussion.
Vine also avoided another fall as the peloton battled for position on a windy section of the course as temperatures rose to 40C.
“Losing two teammates today was tough not only for today but for tomorrow, but everyone pulled together to help keep me safe,” Vine said.
“It’s a difficult stage tomorrow and we also have to deal with the heat.
“We did a lot of work today to stay safe and my teammates have to do a lot of work again to help me tomorrow.”
Forecast scorching temperatures and extreme fire risk forced Tour organizers to abandon the demanding climbs of Willunga Hill for safety reasons, reducing the stage to a largely flat 131km from its original 176km.
Published in Dawn, January 25, 2026
