"The bunch was looking at koalas at one stage but then it all kicked off, riders everywhere"

By Gerard Cromwell

A strong cross-wind section with 50 kilometres to go saw the bunch split in two on today's fourth stage of the Tour Down Under, with German sprinter Marcel Kittel caught in the wrong end of the split and missing out on the finishing sprint in Victor Harbour.

It was another German, however, who opened his 2014 account, with Andre Greipel taking victory ahead of Lotto Belisol teammate Jurgen Roelandts and Cannondale's Ellia Viviani.

Simon Gerrans narrowly missed out on the third place time bonus but thanks to bonus seconds accrued mid stage, is now just seven seconds off the ochre jersey of race leader Cadel Evans.

Ireland's Philip Deignan also finished in the first half of the split and is now 34th overall, 2'07" down.

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But he will be looking to help his Team Sky leaders Geraint Thomas and Richie Porte move up from their current positions of 6th and 10th when the race tackles the tough climb of Old Willunga Hill twice on tomorrow's penultimate stage.

"It was a stressful stage from the start," said Sky's director sportif Kurt-Asle Arvesen of today’s trek.

"There were a few kilometres where the peloton were looking for koalas and chilling out – then at the end it kicked off again and there were riders all over the place.

“Luckily we had our two GC guys up front with riders supporting them. Luke (Rowe) had some bad luck as he was up there but then got a flat tyre and couldn’t get help because there were no service cars in between. All in all, it was an okay day. Hopefully we can do something tomorrow on Willunga.”