BURY Clarion star Simon Yates finished seventh overall on the Santos Tour Down Under after surviving a major crash earlier in the race.

The Mitchelton-Scott rider suffered a knee injury in the closing stages of stage two with his participation on the final four days left in some doubt.

But Yates recovered to finish an impressive third the following day and do his bit to try and help team-mate Daryl Impey to overall victory.

That bid came up short despite leading going into the final day as Australian Richie Porte won the title for the second time with a 29-second winning margin.

Impey was ultimately sixth despite Yates battling with Porte in the closing kilometres of the event.

The 27-year-old sat squarely on the wheel of Porte and was able to cover his first two accelerations before eventually losing the wheel and finishing 10th on the stage.

Behind, Impey found the going tough on the lower slopes and dropped off the pace.

Porte would be outsprinted to victory by Matthew Holmes on the second climb of Willunga Hill as the Englishman took the stage win.

The crash on stage two saw Yates involved in an incident 1.4 kilometres from the finish of the 135.8km Woodside-Stirling route which claimed several victims, around half the peloton, including the Israel Start-Up Nation team’s Ben Hermans, who sustained a fractured collarbone.

Next up for Yates is the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and the Jayco Herald Sun Tour.