Richie Porte survived a late crash on stage four to head into the weekend in fifth place at the Tour Down Under.

The Tasmanian came down briefly after finding the road blocked within the final 100 metres in Mount Barker, but was able to remount without issue and remains just 15 seconds off the ochre jersey.

The day came down to a sprint finish with Steele Von Hoff (Uni SA) taking top honours from Daryl Impey (Orica-GreenEdge) and Wouter Wippert (Drapac).

Bonus seconds for Impey saw him leapfrog Porte into fourth but Team Sky’s leader remains very much in touch with front runner Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing) as the race heads for a showdown on Willunga Hill.

Earlier Pete Kennaugh rode his way into the break for a brief spell while the rest of the team conserved energy where possible ahead of the queen stage. Ian Stannard and Geraint Thomas were also held up by the crash but finished the stage without any further issues.

On the crash heading to the finish Porte confirmed: “I was there at the finish of it and did a little pirouette over the top. I did come down but not anything compared to some of the other guys.

“Today on paper it didn’t look like much but they are always the ones that are stressful from the start.

“Tomorrow we just need as hard of a race as we can get to be honest. We’ll see how it plays out on the climb. Last year I when I won I went pretty early. We’ll take it as it comes but I think it will be a fitting finish to the race.

“The race is not over yet. I think I’m climbing well and the team’s going really strong.”

Sports Director Kurt Asle Arvesen was happy to see no lasting effects from the crash.

“The guys are all okay,” he told TeamSky.com. "G, Ian and Richie were all mixed up in it but there’s nothing serious for our guys thankfully.

“It was a fast start again. We were sitting up there and every now and then we slid a guy into a break. Pete ended up in there but the group never really committed. We told him not to expend too much energy as it’s a big day tomorrow.

“The rest of the guys sat in the bunch and tried to save as much energy as they could. Every now and then it was quite hectic. There were some cross-winds and lumpy roads towards the end. The main goal was to keep Richie up there and they all committed to that and did a great job.”