The excitement of the race’s queen stage was evident from the flag, with a seven-strong escape forging clear, led by breakaway specialist Thomas de Gendt (Lotto-Soudal).

King of the Mountains Nickolas Dlamini (Dimension Data) was also back for more, as were UniSA-Australia duo Scott Bowden and Zak Dempster.

Mads Wurtz Schmidt (Katusha-Alpecin), Nuno Bico (Movistar) and Fumiyuki Beppu (Trek-Segafredo) completed the move, but the peloton were wary of giving them too much of a gap.

Indeed, when the climbing started, only Dlamini, Dempster and De Gendt remained in the group and it was the Belgian who attacked over the summit of Willunga Hill on the first passage of the finishing line.

Dlamini took second – securing the King of the Mountains jersey in the process – but the GC teams reeled everyone in on the final lap of the finishing circuit and the fight for position commenced.

Having been the best-placed Brit overall before the stage, Scott Davies (Dimension Data) continued his impressive WorldTour debut with 25th place at 35 seconds, meanwhile – enough to put him 23rd overall.

It is Impey who will roll out in the ochre jersey in Adelaide for the final stage, however; bonus seconds will be available but the South African’s superior sprinting ability to Porte puts him in pole position to claim overall victory.

Tour Down Under 2018: stage five – result

1) Richie Porte (AUS) – BMC Racing – 3.42.22hrs
2) Daryl Impey (RSA) – Mitchelton-Scott +8”
3) Tom-Jelte Slagter (NED) – Dimension Data +10”
4) Dries Devenyns (BEL) – QuickStep Floors – ST
5) Egan Arley Bernal (COL) – Team Sky
6) Gorka Izagirre (ESP) – Bahrain-Merida
7) Diego Ulissi (ITA) – UAE Team Emirates
8) Robert Gesink (NED) – Team LottoNL-Jumbo +14”
9) Ion Izagirre (ESP) – Bahrain-Merida – ST
10) Ruben Guerreiro (POR) – Trek-Segafredo

General classification

1) Daryl Impey (RSA) – Mitchelton-Scott – 18.02.15hrs
2) Richie Porte (AUS) – BMC Racing – ST
3) Tom-Jelte Slagter (NED) – Dimension Data +16”
4) Diego Ulissi (ITA) – UAE Team Emirates +20”
5) Dries Devenyns (BEL) – QuickStep Floors – ST
6) Egan Arley Bernal (COL) – Team Sky
7) Gorka Izagirre (ESP) – Bahrain-Merida
8) Robert Gesink (NED) – LottoNL-Jumbo +24”
9) George Bennett (NZL) – LottoNL-Jumbo – ST
10) Ion Izagirre (ESP) – Bahrain-Merida