Tour Down Under 2024 - Route
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Welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 3, from Tea Tree Gully to Campbelltown, of the Tour Down Under. The stage starts at 11:10am local time or 12:30am GMT and finishes roughly four hours later.
Stage 2 winner Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) tops the general classification with a slim 2-second lead on stage 2 runner-up Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech). Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), who finished fourth two days in a row, moved up to third overall, seven seconds in arrears.
20-year-old Del Toro also tops the best young rider classification while Girmay also leads the points classification.
Stage 3 of the Tour Down Under is set to start in under 10 minutes. The 145.3km route starts in Tea Tree Gully. It tackles the first climb almost immediately before travelling into the Barossa’s eastern edge before a speedy finish down Gorge Road and into Campbelltown.
It is currently 18 C with overcast conditions with clouds forecast to clear over the day.
As soon as the flag drops, the peloton will be climbing cat 3 Tea Tree Gully Hill, a 2.1km ascent with 6% average gradient and a ramp of 15.6%.
Racing is underway for the longest stage of the Tour Down Under Stage 3 is one for the sprinters with a downhill finish. Who will be the fastest today?
And Luke Burns (Australia) makes the first attack. No response from the field.
Burns is joined by a teammate Tristan Saunders not even a kilometer into the stage.
Burns spent most of the stage in the break yesterday and took the lead in the KOM classification. A lead he intends to defend, and he has a teammate to help him today - 100km out front, sit up, go again – Chasing Tour Down Under KOM points
Burns and Saunders have 45-second gap with Axel Mariault of Cofidis trying to bridge up.
Results of first KOM:
1- Luke Burns (Australia), 5 points
2- Tristan Saunders (Australia), 3 points
3- Axel Mariault (Cofidis), 2 points
A total of 138 riders signed in for the stage today as an ailing Oliver Knight (Cofidis) did not finish the stage yesterday.
Mechanical for Casper Pedersen (Soudal Quick-Step) who is calling his team car at the back of the field.
139km to go
Burns and Saunders have 1:30 gap. Field is happy with the composition, and spread across the road.
Mariault was joined by Stefan de Bod (EF Education-EasyPost) in the chase group, 20 seconds behind, with 136km to go.
133km to go, and the chase group connects with the riders off the front. Four riders in the breakaway: teammate Burns and Saunders, De Bod and Mariault.
Deep conversation between Burns and Mariault in the break. They now have 2:19 lead on the field led by Jayco-AlUla with BORA-hansgrohe behind them - once again. The team of the ochre leader's jersey, UAE Team Emirates is sitting further back.
The two highest-placed riders in the breakaway are Mariault and De Bod who are both 11 seconds back from Del Toro. Burns is 4:28 down and Saunders is 5:37 in arrears.
BORA-hansgrohe takes over the pacemaking in the field with the gap now at 2:48 at 126km to go.
Jayco-AlUla and BORA-hansgrohe are controlling the pace and holding the gap at 2:59. We are less than 10km to the second and final KOM of the day. Will Burns and Saunders continue in the break after the Whispering Wall Climb.
Burns jumps inside of 200 meters to go to take top points of KOM #2 followed by his teammate Saunders.
Results of second KOM:
1- Luke Burns (Australia), 3 points
2- Tristan Saunders (Australia), 2 points
3- Axel Mariault (Cofidis), 1 point
Job done for Burns for the day. The Australian sat up, leaving three riders in the break with a 3:17 gap.
“It's another day and we try to enjoy it today,” stage 2 winner and current GC leader Del Toro said before the start of stage 3.
“It's a complicated stage, but to be honest, I want to stay with my team and try to do the best thing for the final with Alvaro and try to stay there safe and in a good position.”
100km to go
Inside of 2km to go to the first intermediate sprint. Three riders in the break, Mariault, De Bod and Saunders, with a lead of 3:04. De Bod and Mariault are the virtual leaders on the road.
Battle for the intermediate sprint with Mariault who was sitting in third wheel, crossed the line first, followed by De Bod.
Three riders in the break, Saunders, Mariault and De Bod have 2:39 lead with 96km to go.
Deja vu all over again. Jayco-AlUla’s Michael Hepburn and BORA-hansgrohe’s Filip Maciejuk are sharing the pacemaking at the front of the peloton, as they did in yesterday's stage. Gap at 2:16 with 90km to go.
“Every sprint I try my best. I'm motivated. We all expect a bunch sprint and, we will try our best to make it one better than the first time,” runner-up on stage 1 Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) said at the start of stage 3.
“They're [BORA-hansgrohe] still strong, so I expect them to do the best lead out. Especially, I think this final suits them even better than the first one. So, yeah, I expect them to be good. And this time I need to be on the wheel of Sam [Welsford] and then hopefully I have similar legs than the first day.”
Jayco-AlUla and BORA-hansgrohe teams each put a rider at the front of the field to control the gap to the break. The trio off the front has 2:11 with 79km to go.
75km to go
Peloton slowly, very slowly, nibbling seconds off the lead of the trio off the front.
Catching on some news: ‘Pogacar-esque’: Isaac del Toro shows he could be cycling’s next big thing - The Mexican neo-pro was compared to teammate Tadej Pogacar after winning stage two of the Tour Down Under
4km to go to the second and final intermediate sprint in Mount Pleasant. Saunders, Mariault and De Bod in the break are working well together, gap at 1:55
De Bod and Mariault contest the intermediate sprint but the Frenchman was able to get around him to take the top points in bike throw. The duo sat up, shook hands and Saunders went straight on past them.
Saunders is now solo with 59km to go. It's the Australian's first time racing the Tour Down Under.
Peloton is single filed, with the gap is at 1:45 with three Jayco riders on the wheel of a Bora rider.
UAE Team Emirates added one rider to the pacemaking at the front of the field, joining BORA and Jayco.
50km to go
Saunders, who races for Team BridgeLane during the season, has a 1:14 lead. BridgeLane, as a UCI Continental Team, cannot take part in a WorldTour race.
Saunders took a solo win at the 267-kilometre Powercor Melbourne to Warrnambool last year.
With 46km to go, we’re approaching the 1-minute mark for Saunders. He joined his teammate Burns in the break at the start of the stage.
Saunders is reeled back after spending more than 110km in the break. All back together inside of 31km to go - the calm before the storm, the Gorge descent.
Today’s finish in Campbelltown features a slight rising finish with a headwind following a fast descent. According to Robbie McEwen, it’s a difficult sprint to get right.
Teams organizing at the front, the battle for positioning has started.
Guillaume Boivin talking to his director in his Israel-PremierTech team car, and also got an ice sock.
All the sprinters are being brought forwards into position with 28km to go, because of the technical twisting, very fast descent of Gorge Road.
Welsford and his Bora team are massed right behind EF Education on the right side of the peloton. Groupama, Astana, UAE are all lined up at the front too.
25km to go
Peloton flying to the finish line, teams fighting for position for the upcoming bunch sprint.
Visma and UAE fighting for control of the right side of the peloton.
Del Toro sitting in fourth wheel behind his teammates on the twisty road.
Peloton takes the sharp right turn to plunge down Gorge Road to Campbelltown!
Israel-Premier Tech is also at the front looking to improve their results after finishing second and third yesterday.
Teams still fighting for position. Dsm pushes its way to the front, with UAE keeping Del Toro safe at the front. Bora still hanging in top 20.
10km to go
Peloton speeding to Campbelltown. Some riders riding in the gravel on the side of the road to make their way to the front.
Big crash. Astana and Bahrain riders down on the road.
EF Education and Ineos are taking over the front with 9km to go.
Ewan is on his teammates’ wheel close the front and Del Toro is following the Australian.
Reports that Luke Plapp was also involved in the high-speed crash a few kilometres ago.
5 km to go. Jayco has opted for the right side of the road.
Bauhaus on Haig’s wheel next to the Bora train.
3km to go. A few more twists and turns to come as Bora takes over the front of the field.
Movistar attacks and Groupama jumps on his wheel.
Intermanche take over the front for Girmay. He's bumping shoulders to take his teammates' wheel..
Final km!
Welsford does it again after another brilliant leadout!
“It was a long sprint. I actually probably went a little bit too early maybe, but had the 56 on so I just fully sent it and I think I was in the ten at one point, it was a pretty big gear. But at that speed you just grip it and rip it, you know." - stage 3 winner Sam Welsford (BORA-hansgrohe).
Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers) finished second and Daniel McLay (Arkea-B&B Hotels) rounded out the podium.
Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) finished 33rd on the same time as Welsford and remained on top of the general classification mid-way through the six-day stage race.
Corbin Strong (Israel-PremierTech) is still second overall, two seconds back. After taking the maximum time bonus seconds in the two intermediate sprints, Axel Mariault (Cofidis) moved up to third overall, five seconds down.
News: Luke Plapp crashes on stage 3 of Tour Down Under, finishes stage with 'lots of skin lost' - Australian national champion at bottom of pile of around four tangled up riders that came down on Gorge Road
