Top Australian cycling team Mitchelton-Scott have pulled off an outstanding Tour Down Under heist, with Daryl Impey about to claim the overall title.
Barring a disaster, the South African will win the Adelaide Tour on Sunday for the first time.
The race looks far from over on paper, given Impey is tied for the overall lead with Australian star Richie Porte.
But the sprint strength of Mitchelton-Scott means Porte will be unable to claim the one second he needs in Sunday's last stage to take the lead from Impey.
Porte conceded immediately after winning Saturday's Queen stage at Willunga for the fifth year in a row.
He was aiming to become the first Tour champion in its 20-year history to defend his title.
Impey leads on a countback of their stage placings through the first five days of the Tour.
It will be the fourth time Mitchelton-Scott have won the Tour - and this by far is the sneakiest.
Mitchelton-Scott loudly declared their main objective was stage wins through sprinter Caleb Ewan - not the overall title.
"We kept it quite quiet and on the down-low that I was going to target GC," Impey said.
"It's just fantastic to have the team support me the way they did."
As late as Friday night, the word from Mitchelton-Scott was that they would be happy if Impey finished in the top five.
All Mitchelton-Scott's previous Tour Down Under wins had been with Simon Gerrans, who has joined Porte at BMC.
Impey started Saturday's 151km Queen stage in second place overall, two seconds behind Peter Sagan.
But all eyes were on Porte, who was 14 seconds off the pace, with Sagan's Australian teammate Jay McCarthy (Bora-Hansgrohe) considered the main threat in third overall at nine seconds.
Once Porte unleashed his trademark attack on the Willunga climb and broke clear of McCarthy, the winning margin became critical.
Then Impey stunned everyone, finishing eight seconds behind Porte in second place - his best result at Willunga.
For a few anxious moments, even Impey was unsure what it meant.
"I surprised myself and then, coming to the line, I saw five, six (seconds) and I thought 'gee I must be pretty close here. I'd better sprint it in'," Impey said.
"Some guys were saying, 'oh, you've got it', then 'hold on, waiting for confirmation - hold on, yeah, you've got it - oh, wait, that's unconfirmed'.
"So it was a bit stressful there."
This is Porte's first stage race since his horrific Tour de France crash last year and he was rapt to win at Willunga again, saying it was the toughest of the five.
He also immediately wrote off his chances in Sunday's Adelaide street race, in which Ewan will be the favourite.
"If I was good enough to win, I would have won it today on Willunga," Porte said.
"So hat's off to Daryl. He's a good mate - a fantastic bike rider.
"I have to be happy with second."
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