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2016 Santos Tour Down Under (World Tour), Australia

Stage 3: Glenelg - Campelltown

Stage 3, Thursday, January 21: Glenelg - Campbelltown, 139 km

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Results | Stage 3 video | Stage 3 photos | Stage 3 map and profile

Simon Gerrans wins stage 3

The race: The organizer provided this excellent narrative:

Simon Gerrans has snatched the race lead from fellow Australian Jay McCarthy with a scorching sprint into Campbelltown to win the Thomas Foods Stage 3 of the Santos Tour Down Under.

Gerrans, a three time winner of the race, led a select group of ten riders across the finish line, half a wheel in front of defending champion Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing) with Canadian Michael Woods (Cannondale) third.

The beachside suburb of Glenelg hosted the start of today’s Thomas Foods Stage 3 that took the race through the Fleurieu Peninsula and the Adelaide Hills with the highlight of the action coming on the infamous Corkscrew Road climb that led to a super fast descending final 5.7 kilometres of the stage.

“It was super tough going up to Corkscrew,” said Gerrans after his win.”There are obviously some good climbers in the race and I had to dig deep to stay up there. I just came back over the top to the guys in front of me to catch the escapees right at the beginning of the descent,” said Gerrans who yesterday was one of the riders who crashed inside a kilometre from the line after riding a near perfect stage to that point.

Today his Orica GreenEdge team mates again did their job to protect him and set him up for the climb. “I was in a really good position coming into Corkscrew and thanks to them I got this great result,” he said. “I’m just happy to get the win at the end.”

Overnight leader, McCarthy (Tinkoff), finished fourth, just outside the placings and the time bonuses, which means he now sits three seconds behind Gerrans while Dennis is ranked third at five seconds.

The flag to start the race proper was still moving when Belgian Laurens De Vreese (Astana) launched an attack from the bunch setting himself up for a long, hot, lonely day at the front of the race that today attracted 115 thousand spectators.

He set up a handy lead and was first across the line at the iiNet intermediate sprint at McLaren Flat, 34 kilometres into the stage. The main field upped the pace as headed to the sprint with the favourites keen to grab one of the minor placings and a time bonus.

Movistar’s Juan Lobato del Valle was too quick for McCarthy who claimed a one second bonus for his third place on the line. Gerrans also tried his luck.

“We tried to go for the first intermediate sprint but I didn't have the legs,” said Gerrans. “I was a bit stiff from the crash yesterday so I wasn't able to score any points or any seconds in the first sprint.”

De Vreese’s lead, that had come down at the sprint, stretched again after the line and at one stage topped four minutes.

That meant he also collected the second iiNet sprint of the day at Oakbank at 95km while back in the bunch Tinkoff was setting up McCarthy for another burst. This time however, Orica GreenEdge was in the mix to try and stymie McCarthy’s bid for another time bonus. Ewan outsprinted McCarthy who had to settle for another one second bonus. Gerrans didn’t contest the second intermediate iiNet sprint choosing to rest his legs for the final assault.

As the race headed into the final 20 kilometres De Vreese’s day in the spotlight was over and he was unceremoniously caught, passed and dropped. He did however earn the Alpecin Most Competitive Rider award for his efforts.

“It’s better to go on the attack than do nothing,” said De Vreese. “I tried to have somebody coming up the road with me but someone has to be first to attack. It was me and I was alone so it was a long day for me but it became a good training and I’m very happy to get the trophy for the most competitive rider.”

The pace was relentless as the teams of the main contenders worked to position their men at the front for the category one Subaru King of the Mountain climb up Corkscrew Road. A small group of riders crashed before the climb causing a split in the peloton and leaving anyone not in the front group with no chance of regaining the leaders.

On the climb Colombian Sergio Henao (Team SKY) led Woods over the top after the pair broke clear. Italian Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R La Mondiale) was next under the banner with Richie Porte (BMC Racing) and Simon Gerrans the next to crest the hill.

“You’re always thinking about the victory,” said Henao. “If the climb was steeper or longer, I am sure I could have gotten away. We could see the group coming back, so it was important to be there with the leaders. I had a good winter training in Colombia, and came here with good condition, he said. “The team is working well, and we will see at Willunga Hill (Saturday). I will try to take the victory there.”

A group of ten riders formed at the front and flew down the descent before making the sharp right hand turn onto the finishing straight to battle for stage honours.

McCarthy was disappointed to relinquish his lead but remains a threat for overall honours. “Definitely it would have been nice to keep the jersey but in the long picture, I know how much the boys had to work hard,” said McCarthy. “They did a great job today. I’m gonna keep going for it as hard as I can,” said McCarthy who still leads the Europcar Young Rider classification. “It’s all new to me to be going for the overall classification at this level but I’ve done it before as an under 23 and at the Tour of Turkey so I know how to handle the pressure.

“If my legs can do it, I’ll be able to do it,” said McCarthy.

McCarthy says being out of the lead will ease the pressure on his Tinkoff team mates who will not have to defend the jersey in tomorrow’s Bupa Stage 4 where crosswinds are expected to create challenging conditions.

Third place Woods was thrilled to be in thick of the action today. “I spoke with my sport director before coming here, and he said do not put limits on yourself,” said Woods. “I was feeling good on the climb, and had the self-confidence to keep going.

“I’ve always watched the Tour Down Under on TV, and heard Phil Liggett calling the races, and now I am doing it myself. It’s like a dream come true.”

Complete Results:

139 km raced at an average speed of 38.333 km/hr

1	Simon Gerrans	Orica–GreenEdge	3hr 37min 34sec
2	Rohan Dennis	BMC	s.t.
3	Michael Woods	Cannondale	s.t.
4	Jay McCarthy	Tinkoff	s.t.
5	Steve Morabito	FDJ	s.t.
6	Rafael Valls Ferri	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
7	Sergio Henao	Team Sky	s.t.
8	Domenico Pozzovivo	AG2R-La Mondiale	s.t.
9	Richie Porte	BMC	s.t.
10	Ruben Fernandez	Movistar	s.t.
11	Luis Leon Sanchez	Astana	@ 13sec
12	Simon Clarke	Cannondale	s.t.
13	Jack Bobridge	Trek–Segafredo	0:00:22
14	Pieter Serry	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
15	Patrick Bevin	Cannondale	s.t.
16	Anthony Roux	FDJ	s.t.
17	Geraint Thomas	Team Sky	s.t.
18	Lars Ytting Bak	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
19	Tobias Ludvigsson	Giant–Alpecin	s.t.
20	Egor Silin	Katusha	s.t.
21	Georg Preidler	Giant–Alpecin	s.t.
22	Lieuwe Westra	Astana	s.t.
23	Jesús Herrada	Movistar	s.t.
24	José Joaquin Rojas	Movistar	s.t.
25	David De La Cruz	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
26	Davide Malacarne	Astana	s.t.
27	Adam Hansen	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
28	Petr Vakoc	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
29	Cameron Meyer	Dimension Data	s.t.
30	George Bennett	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
31	Lachlan Norris	Drapac	s.t.
32	Tiago Machado	Katusha	s.t.
33	Peter Stetina	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
34	Chris Hamilton	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
35	Diego Ulissi	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
36	Carlos Verona	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
37	Louis Meintjes	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
38	Rein Taaramäe	Katusha	s.t.
39	Nathan Earle	Drapac	0:00:43
40	Peter Kennaugh	Team Sky	s.t.
41	Primoz Roglic	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
42	Jarlinson Pantano	IAM Cycling	@ 1min 16sec
43	Danilo Wyss	BMC	s.t.
44	Floris Gerts	BMC	0:01:21
45	Nathan Haas	Dimension Data	s.t.
46	Patrick Shaw	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
47	Adam Phelan	Drapac	s.t.
48	Pim Ligthart	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
49	David Tanner	IAM Cycling	s.t.
50	Cyril Gautier	AG2R-La Mondiale	s.t.
51	Luka Pibernik	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
52	Jascha Sütterlin	Movistar	0:01:43
53	Patrick Lane	UniSA-Australia	0:01:51
54	Matteo Montaguti	AG2R-La Mondiale	s.t.
55	Ivan Rovny	Tinkoff	s.t.
56	Martin Velits	Etixx–Quick-Step	2:32:00
57	Peter Velits	BMC	s.t.
58	Enrico Battaglin	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
59	Michael Albasini	Orica–GreenEdge	3:01:00
60	Daryl Impey	Orica–GreenEdge	s.t.
61	Alexey Tsatevitch	Katusha	s.t.
62	Steele von Hoff	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
63	Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg	Dimension Data	s.t.
64	Gavin Mannion	Drapac	0:03:09
65	Gert Dockx	Lotto-Soudal	0:03:47
66	Samuel Spokes	Drapac	s.t.
67	Carter Jones	Giant–Alpecin	s.t.
68	Nelson Oliveira	Movistar	s.t.
69	Sergey Lagutin	Katusha	0:04:45
70	Dmitriy Gruzdev	Astana	s.t.
71	Boy Van Poppel	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
72	Kiel Reijnen	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
73	Ryder Hesjedal	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
74	Lucas Hamilton	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
75	Greg Henderson	Lotto-Soudal	0:05:02
76	Ruben Zepuntke	Cannondale	s.t.
77	Murilo Fischer	FDJ	s.t.
78	Manuele Mori	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
79	Maxim Belkov	Katusha	s.t.
80	Rory Sutherland	Movistar	0:05:34
81	Guillaume Van Keirsbulck	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
82	Jaco Venter	Dimension Data	s.t.
83	Moreno Moser	Cannondale	s.t.
84	Mathew Hayman	Orica–GreenEdge	0:05:58
85	Michael Valgren Andersen	Tinkoff	0:06:00
86	Manuele Boaro	Tinkoff	0:06:39
87	Michael Gogl	Tinkoff	s.t.
88	Yoann Offredo	FDJ	s.t.
89	Tsgabu Gebremaryam Grmay	Lampre–Merida	0:06:58
90	Mark Renshaw	Dimension Data	s.t.
91	Federico Zurlo	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
92	Laurent Pichon	FDJ	0:07:30
93	Johan Le Bon	FDJ	0:07:32
94	Roger Kluge	IAM Cycling	0:07:35
95	Marcel Aregger	IAM Cycling	s.t.
96	Alessandro De Marchi	BMC	s.t.
97	Alberto Bettiol	Cannondale	s.t.
98	Luke Rowe	Team Sky	s.t.
99	Ian Stannard	Team Sky	s.t.
100	Luke Durbridge	Orica–GreenEdge	s.t.
101	Ben Swift	Team Sky	s.t.
102	Lars Boom	Astana	s.t.
103	Bert-Jan Lindeman	LottoNL–Jumbo	0:07:41
104	Maarten Tjallingii	LottoNL–Jumbo	0:08:30
105	Michael Hepburn	Orica–GreenEdge	s.t.
106	Thomas De Gendt	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
107	Simon Geschke	Giant–Alpecin	s.t.
108	Laurens De Vreese	Astana	s.t.
109	Koen De Kort	Giant–Alpecin	s.t.
110	Giacomo Nizzolo	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
111	Adam Blythe	Tinkoff	s.t.
112	Cheng Ji	Giant–Alpecin	s.t.
113	Gediminas Bagdonas	AG2R-La Mondiale	s.t.
114	Marcus Burghardt	BMC	0:08:43
115	Vladimir Isaychev	Katusha	0:08:58
116	Martijn Keizer	LottoNL–Jumbo	0:09:01
117	Alexis Gougeard	AG2R-La Mondiale	s.t.
118	Christophe Riblon	AG2R-La Mondiale	s.t.
119	Jesse Sergent	AG2R-La Mondiale	s.t.
120	Anthony Giacoppo	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
121	Sean Lake	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
122	Songezo Jim	Dimension Data	s.t.
123	Benoit Vaugrenard	FDJ	s.t.
124	Aleksejs Saramotins	IAM Cycling	s.t.
125	Leigh Howard	IAM Cycling	s.t.
126	Arman Kamyshev	Astana	s.t.
127	Juan José Lobato	Movistar	s.t.
128	Bert De Backer	Giant–Alpecin	s.t.
129	Davide Martinelli	Etixx–Quick-Step	0:09:40
130	Caleb Ewan	Orica–GreenEdge	s.t.
131	Graeme Brown	Drapac	0:10:22
132	Wouter Wippert	Cannondale	s.t.
133	Bram Tankink	LottoNL–Jumbo	0:12:30
134	Julian Arredondo	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
135	Tyler Farrar	Dimension Data	0:13:07
136	Oscar Gatto	Tinkoff	0:13:11
137	Marko Kump	Lampre–Merida	s.t.

GC after Stage 3:

401.8 km raced so far at an average speed of 38.376 km/hr

1	Simon Gerrans	Orica–GreenEdge	10hr 28min 12sec
2	Jay McCarthy	Tinkoff	@ 3sec
3	Rohan Dennis	BMC	0:00:05
4	Michael Woods	Cannondale	0:00:11
5	Sergio Henao	Team Sky	0:00:15
6	Rafael Valls Ferri	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
7	Ruben Fernandez	Movistar	s.t.
8	Steve Morabito	FDJ	s.t.
9	Domenico Pozzovivo	AG2R-La Mondiale	s.t.
10	Richie Porte	BMC	s.t.
11	Simon Clarke	Cannondale	0:00:28
12	Luis Leon Sanchez	Astana	s.t.
13	Diego Ulissi	Lampre–Merida	0:00:31
14	Patrick Bevin	Cannondale	0:00:37
15	Anthony Roux	FDJ	s.t.
16	Tobias Ludvigsson	Giant–Alpecin	s.t.
17	Cameron Meyer	Dimension Data	s.t.
18	José Joaquin Rojas	Movistar	s.t.
19	Egor Silin	Katusha	s.t.
20	Davide Malacarne	Astana	s.t.
21	Tiago Machado	Katusha	s.t.
22	David De La Cruz	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
23	Carlos Verona	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
24	Georg Preidler	Giant–Alpecin	s.t.
25	Jesús Herrada	Movistar	s.t.
26	Petr Vakoc	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
27	Lars Ytting Bak	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
28	George Bennett	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
29	Louis Meintjes	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
30	Peter Stetina	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
31	Jack Bobridge	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
32	Geraint Thomas	Team Sky	s.t.
33	Lieuwe Westra	Astana	s.t.
34	Pieter Serry	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
35	Rein Taaramäe	Katusha	s.t.
36	Chris Hamilton	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
37	Lachlan Norris	Drapac	s.t.
38	Peter Kennaugh	Team Sky	0:00:58
39	Primoz Roglic	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
40	Nathan Earle	Drapac	s.t.
41	Jarlinson Pantano	IAM Cycling	@ 1min 31sec
42	Danilo Wyss	BMC	s.t.
43	Patrick Shaw	UniSA-Australia	0:01:36
44	Floris Gerts	BMC	s.t.
45	David Tanner	IAM Cycling	s.t.
46	Nathan Haas	Dimension Data	s.t.
47	Pim Ligthart	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
48	Adam Phelan	Drapac	s.t.
49	Cyril Gautier	AG2R-La Mondiale	s.t.
50	Jascha Sütterlin	Movistar	0:01:58
51	Matteo Montaguti	AG2R-La Mondiale	0:02:06
52	Ivan Rovny	Tinkoff	s.t.
53	Patrick Lane	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
54	Enrico Battaglin	LottoNL–Jumbo	0:02:47
55	Martin Velits	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
56	Peter Velits	BMC	s.t.
57	Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg	Dimension Data	0:03:15
58	Alexey Tsatevitch	Katusha	0:03:16
59	Michael Albasini	Orica–GreenEdge	s.t.
60	Daryl Impey	Orica–GreenEdge	s.t.
61	Gavin Mannion	Drapac	0:03:24
62	Luka Pibernik	Lampre–Merida	0:03:27
63	Samuel Spokes	Drapac	0:04:02
64	Gert Dockx	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
65	Nelson Oliveira	Movistar	s.t.
66	Carter Jones	Giant–Alpecin	s.t.
67	Steele von Hoff	UniSA-Australia	0:04:40
68	Dmitriy Gruzdev	Astana	0:05:00
69	Lucas Hamilton	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
70	Sergey Lagutin	Katusha	s.t.
71	Adam Hansen	Lotto-Soudal	0:05:12
72	Ruben Zepuntke	Cannondale	0:05:17
73	Moreno Moser	Cannondale	0:05:49
74	Rory Sutherland	Movistar	s.t.
75	Jaco Venter	Dimension Data	s.t.
76	Yoann Offredo	FDJ	0:06:54
77	Manuele Boaro	Tinkoff	s.t.
78	Michael Gogl	Tinkoff	s.t.
79	Manuele Mori	Lampre–Merida	0:07:08
80	Tsgabu Gebremaryam Grmay	Lampre–Merida	0:07:13
81	Mathew Hayman	Orica–GreenEdge	0:07:18
82	Greg Henderson	Lotto-Soudal	0:07:43
83	Johan Le Bon	FDJ	0:07:47
84	Bert-Jan Lindeman	LottoNL–Jumbo	0:07:56
85	Boy Van Poppel	Trek–Segafredo	0:08:27
86	Alessandro De Marchi	BMC	0:08:30
87	Laurens De Vreese	Astana	0:08:39
88	Marcus Burghardt	BMC	0:08:58
89	Juan José Lobato Del Valle	Movistar	0:09:14
90	Anthony Giacoppo	UniSA-Australia	0:09:16
91	Aleksejs Saramotins	IAM Cycling	s.t.
92	Arman Kamyshev	Astana	s.t.
93	Ryder Hesjedal	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
94	Songezo Jim	Dimension Data	s.t.
95	Laurent Pichon	FDJ	0:09:26
96	Murilo Fischer	FDJ	0:09:55
97	Alberto Bettiol	Cannondale	0:10:16
98	Graeme Brown	Drapac	0:10:37
99	Michael Valgren Andersen	Tinkoff	0:10:53
100	Luke Rowe	Team Sky	0:10:58
101	Ian Stannard	Team Sky	0:11:21
102	Simon Geschke	Giant–Alpecin	0:11:49
103	Federico Zurlo	Lampre–Merida	0:11:51
104	Sean Lake	UniSA-Australia	0:12:21
105	Lars Boom	Astana	0:12:28
106	Julian Arredondo	Trek–Segafredo	0:12:45
107	Bram Tankink	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
108	Adam Blythe	Tinkoff	0:13:01
109	Maxim Belkov	Katusha	0:13:16
110	Koen De Kort	Giant–Alpecin	0:13:23
111	Maarten Tjallingii	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
112	Oscar Gatto	Tinkoff	0:13:26
113	Guillaume Van Keirsbulck	Etixx–Quick-Step	0:13:48
114	Jesse Sergent	AG2R-La Mondiale	0:13:54
115	Mark Renshaw	Dimension Data	0:13:57
116	Davide Martinelli	Etixx–Quick-Step	0:14:11
117	Ben Swift	Team Sky	0:14:40
118	Kiel Reijnen	Trek–Segafredo	0:15:12
119	Bert De Backer	Giant–Alpecin	0:15:39
120	Roger Kluge	IAM Cycling	0:15:49
121	Caleb Ewan	Orica–GreenEdge	0:16:01
122	Christophe Riblon	AG2R-La Mondiale	0:16:06
123	Benoit Vaugrenard	FDJ	s.t.
124	Luke Durbridge	Orica–GreenEdge	0:16:29
125	Giacomo Nizzolo	Trek–Segafredo	0:16:44
126	Thomas De Gendt	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
127	Alexis Gougeard	AG2R-La Mondiale	0:17:09
128	Marcel Aregger	IAM Cycling	0:17:35
129	Wouter Wippert	Cannondale	0:18:32
130	Gediminas Bagdonas	AG2R-La Mondiale	0:19:23
131	Leigh Howard	IAM Cycling	0:19:28
132	Tyler Farrar	Dimension Data	0:21:13
133	Marko Kump	Lampre–Merida	0:21:25
134	Martijn Keizer	LottoNL–Jumbo	0:22:44
135	Cheng Ji	Giant–Alpecin	0:22:58
136	Michael Hepburn	Orica–GreenEdge	0:24:40
137	Vladimir Isaychev	Katusha	0:25:00