Tour Down Under 2019 – Stage 3 [LAST 15 KM]

January 17, 2019

Tour Down Under 2019 – Stage 3 – Lobethal – Uraidla : 146,2 km

The 2019 Tour Down Under will once again kick off the WorldTour season in Australia. The racing will begin with the People’s Choice Classic on January 13 and the peloton will move straight into the stage race held from January 15 to 20 in and around Adelaide. The climb of Willunga Hill will feature as the climax to the 2019 Tour Down Under, as the Australian UCI WorldTour event eschews its final ‘Champs-Elysées-like’ processional stage in favour of a ‘queen stage’ that should keep things exciting right to the very end. In 2019 last year’s winner Darly Impey (Mitchelton Scott) returns to defend his crown. He will be joined by Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe), Richie Porte (Trek Segafredo) and Rohan Dennis (Bahrain Merida). The race will also represent Caleb Ewan’s first outing as a Lotto Soudal rider after his move from Mitchelton Scott.

Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) reprised his role from 2018 during stage 3 at the Tour Down Under on Thursday, taking the stage win again in Uraidla after following Daryl Impey’s initial jump to the line on the slightly uphill finish. Unlike 2018, however, when Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) came in second to Sagan on his way to winning the overall, the South African was beaten to the line by Astana’s Luis Leon Sanchez, who claimed the runner-up spot this time.

Overnight leader Patrick Bevin (CCC Team) finished fifth on the same time as Sagan and held onto his race lead by one second over the former world champion. Sanchez is now third, nine seconds back, with Impey in fifth at 11 seconds.

“I’m very happy to win, and very grateful to my teammates,” Sagan told the media after stepping down off the podium. “They did a great job and took care of me, keeping me at the front, which meant that I was able to save a lot of energy for the final lap.

“So I won – only by a little bit – but I won, and I’m very happy about that.”

Sagan also took control of the points competition, relieving stage 1 winner Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep) of his blue jersey, despite the Italian champion’s day out in the early breakaway, from which he grabbed maximum points at both intermediate sprints.

The move, which went clear with the momentum of the first sprint, also temporarily gave Viviani back the race lead from Bevin thanks to six seconds’ worth of time bonuses, but Viviani would later fall back from the break to the bunch, and was subsequently dropped, trailing home more than 12 minutes down on stage winner Sagan.

With Viviani in the initial move were Nicholas Dlamini (Dimension Data), James Whelan (EF Education First), Nico Denz (AG2R La Mondiale), Astana’s Manuele Boaro, Leo Vincent (Groupama-FDJ) and UniSA-Australia’s Michael Potter, and the septet quickly built up a healthy lead, which had reached almost three minutes as they approached the day’s only KOM at Fox Creek, just under 40km into the stage.

Here, Boaro revealed his interest in having made the break, powering over the climb to take the maximum 10 points, which would move him up to second place in the mountains classification behind Jason Lea (UniSA-Australia), who holds on to the polka-dot jersey with an eight-point buffer.

The bunch, controlled for most of the day by race leader Bevin’s CCC Team, was content to let the seven riders have their fun, but as the distance and the day’s intense heat began to take its toll, first Viviani and, later, Denz, Boaro and Vincent dropped off the pace, leaving only Whelan, Dlamini and Potter at the head of affairs.

A crash in the bunch with just under 40km to go brought down a number of riders, but, with no serious injuries, there was little interruption to what had become a chase by CCC.

Two riders – EF Education First’s Alberto Bettiol and Astana’s Davide Ballerini – nevertheless took the opportunity to jump away from the peloton, linking up first with Boaro, who was in turn able to stick with the duo and come back up to the leading trio, making a leading group of six made up of two Astana riders, two EF riders and one each from Dimension Data and UniSA-Australia with 30km left of the stage to race.

As riders continued to drop out of the back of the peloton, the seven laps of the 14km finish circuit around Uraidla continued to take their toll at the front of the race, too, and it was the EF duo of Whelan and Bettiol left alone in the lead with just two circuits to go.

Whelan – in his first year with the WorldTour team – had been out front all day, and unselfishly buried himself for Bettiol to try to help his teammate win the stage. But with 20km left to race, the effort became too much for the young Australian, leaving Bettiol to battle on alone. The Italian made it to just inside the final lap before being swept up by what was left of the peloton, led by a Mitchelton-Scott team intent on dragging defending champion Daryl Impey to the line.

However, it was another EF rider – Lachlan Morton – who came to the front to set an infernal pace on the short climbs for his team leader Michael Woods with 8km to go, before Mitchelton once again took control thanks to 2018 Australian road race champion Alex Edmondson.

Bevin was still in the ever-decreasing group, as was 2017 Tour Down Under champion Richie Porte and, more surprisingly, Sagan, but inside 3km to go, it was Team Sky’s Kenny Elissonde who put in the first meaningful attack, gaining a considerable gap with Jumbo-Visma’s Robert Gesink stuck in no man’s land as the Dutchman tried to respond.

EF went yet again, and this time it was Woods, who swept up first Gesink and then Elissonde, and went into the final two kilometres with nothing but a stage victory on his mind. But despite the Canadian’s evident strength, he, too, was reined in, and it was Mitchelton’s Lucas Hamilton – with Impey glued to his back wheel – that took the race under the kilometre-to-go banner, with Impey able to open his sprint at the 500-metre mark.

Sagan, however, was right on his wheel, with Sanchez behind the Slovakian. It was a three-horse race, and, as Impey faded, Sanchez and Sagan were left to fight it out, with the nod going to Sagan by the smallest of margins.

Results :
1 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 3:46:06
2 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team
3 Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott
4 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
5 Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team
6 Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
7 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
8 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
9 Chris Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
10 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
11 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
12 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) Dimension Data
13 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
14 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky
15 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
16 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma
17 Eduard Prades (Spa) Movistar Team
18 Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First Pro Cycling
19 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Groupama-FDJ
20 Marco Haller (Aut) Katusha-Alpecin
21 Chris Harper (Aus) UniSA-Australia
22 Michael Valgren (Den) Dimension Data
23 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
24 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
25 Steve Morabito (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
26 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal
27 Gregor Muhlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
28 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Sky
29 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
30 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb
31 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
32 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
33 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep
34 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data
35 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data
36 Dimitrii Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:07
37 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb
38 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
39 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin
40 Remi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
41 Dylan Sunderland (Aus) UniSA-Australia
42 Rafael Valls (Spa) Movistar Team
43 Lluís Mas (Spa) Movistar Team
44 Herman Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain-Merida
45 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
46 Lars Bak (Den) Dimension Data
47 Yukiya Arashiro (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
48 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:20
49 James Whelan (Aus) EF Education First Pro Cycling 0:00:26
50 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:41
51 Ayden Toovey (Aus) UniSA-Australia
52 Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:55
53 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Team Sky 0:00:56
54 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data
55 Joey Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team 0:01:25
56 Héctor Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:27
57 Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:59
58 Lachlan Morton (Aus) EF Education First Pro Cycling 0:02:20
59 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team 0:03:15
60 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain-Merida
61 Danil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
62 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal
63 Sven Erik Bystrom (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
64 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
65 Yevgeniy Gidich (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
66 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:36
67 Ryan Mullen (Ire) Trek-Segafredo 0:04:07
68 Michael Hepburn (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
69 Alex Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
70 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) Trek-Segafredo
71 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal
72 Mitchell Docker (Aus) EF Education First Pro Cycling 0:04:30
73 Thomas Scully (NZl) EF Education First Pro Cycling
74 Nick White (Aus) UniSA-Australia
75 Mat Hayman (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:05:23
76 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Deceuninck – QuickStep
77 Luke Durbridge (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
78 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
79 Tom Leezer (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:05:36
80 Jasper Phlipsen (Bel) UAE Team Emirates 0:07:07
81 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:07:16
82 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky 0:08:15
83 Jason Lea (Aus) UniSA-Australia
84 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) EF Education First Pro Cycling 0:10:06
85 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky
86 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
87 Nans Peter (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
88 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
89 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
90 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
91 Rory Sutherland (Aus) UAE Team Emirates
92 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky
93 Jaime Castrillo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:11:26
94 Rubén Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
95 Victor De La Parte (Spa) CCC Team
96 Michael Potter (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:11:39
97 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Bahrain-Merida 0:12:30
98 Nico Denz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
99 Koen de Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
100 Lukas Postlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
101 Adam Blythe (GBr) Lotto Soudal
102 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
103 Leo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
104 Davide Ballerini (Ita) Astana Pro Team
105 Daniel Hoelgaard (Nor) Groupama-FDJ
106 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Team Sky
107 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin
108 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal
109 Jens Debesschere (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
110 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Team
111 Nic Dlamini (RSA) Dimension Data
112 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
113 William Clarke (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
114 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team
115 Elia Viviani (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
116 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
117 Francisco Ventoso (Spa) CCC Team
118 Ivo Oliveira (Por) UAE Team Emirates
119 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal
120 Michael Morkov (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
121 Roger Kluge (Ger) Lotto Soudal
122 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb
123 Clement Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
124 Maarten Wynants (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:12:50
125 Jakub Mareczko (Ita) CCC Team 0:13:28
126 Mikkel Honoré (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
127 Neil Van der Ploeg (Aus) UniSA-Australia
128 Daniel McClay (GBr) EF Education First Pro Cycling
129 Max Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb
130 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:15:03
131 Gediminas Bagdonas (Ltu) AG2R La Mondiale 0:16:23
132 Michael Sajnok (Pol) CCC Team 0:20:34
DNF Max Kanter (Ger) Team Sunweb

General Classification after Stage 3 :
1 Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team 10:20:09
2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:01
3 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:00:09
4 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:00:10
5 Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:11
6 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:15
7 Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
8 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) Dimension Data
9 Chris Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
10 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma
11 Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First Pro Cycling
12 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
13 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
14 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky
15 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Groupama-FDJ
16 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
17 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
18 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Sky
19 Eduard Prades (Spa) Movistar Team
20 Dimitrii Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
21 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
22 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data
23 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
24 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
25 Michael Valgren (Den) Dimension Data
26 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb
27 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
28 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
29 Steve Morabito (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
30 Chris Harper (Aus) UniSA-Australia
31 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
32 Marco Haller (Aut) Katusha-Alpecin
33 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data
34 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
35 Gregor Muhlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
36 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal
37 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep
38 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:22
39 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
40 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
41 Lluís Mas (Spa) Movistar Team
42 Dylan Sunderland (Aus) UniSA-Australia
43 Rafael Valls (Spa) Movistar Team
44 Herman Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain-Merida
45 Yukiya Arashiro (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
46 Remi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
47 Lars Bak (Den) Dimension Data
48 James Whelan (Aus) EF Education First Pro Cycling 0:00:41
49 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:56
50 Ayden Toovey (Aus) UniSA-Australia
51 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:01:05
52 Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:10
53 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Team Sky 0:01:11
54 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data
55 Joey Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team 0:01:40
56 Héctor Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:42
57 Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:57
58 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain-Merida 0:03:30
59 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team
60 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
61 Danil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
62 Yevgeniy Gidich (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
63 Sven Erik Bystrom (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
64 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal
65 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:51
66 Alex Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:04:22
67 Michael Hepburn (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
68 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) Trek-Segafredo
69 Ryan Mullen (Ire) Trek-Segafredo 0:04:54
70 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal 0:05:02
71 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:05:38
72 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Deceuninck – QuickStep
73 Nick White (Aus) UniSA-Australia
74 Mat Hayman (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
75 Luke Durbridge (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
76 Tom Leezer (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:05:51
77 Lachlan Morton (Aus) EF Education First Pro Cycling 0:05:52
78 Thomas Scully (NZl) EF Education First Pro Cycling 0:06:14
79 Mitchell Docker (Aus) EF Education First Pro Cycling 0:06:39
80 Jasper Phlipsen (Bel) UAE Team Emirates 0:07:21
81 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:08:14
82 Jason Lea (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:08:25
83 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky 0:08:30
84 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky 0:10:21
85 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
86 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
87 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
88 Nans Peter (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
89 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
90 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky
91 Rory Sutherland (Aus) UAE Team Emirates
92 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) EF Education First Pro Cycling 0:11:01
93 Jaime Castrillo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:11:38
94 Rubén Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team 0:11:41
95 Victor De La Parte (Spa) CCC Team
96 Michael Potter (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:11:54
97 Elia Viviani (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:12:29
98 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:12:39
99 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
100 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Team Sky 0:12:43
101 Nico Denz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
102 Leo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:12:44
103 Daniel Hoelgaard (Nor) Groupama-FDJ 0:12:45
104 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
105 Jens Debesschere (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
106 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team
107 Francisco Ventoso (Spa) CCC Team
108 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Team
109 Koen de Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
110 Ivo Oliveira (Por) UAE Team Emirates
111 Nic Dlamini (RSA) Dimension Data
112 Davide Ballerini (Ita) Astana Pro Team
113 Clement Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
114 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal
115 William Clarke (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
116 Michael Morkov (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
117 Roger Kluge (Ger) Lotto Soudal
118 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin
119 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Bahrain-Merida 0:13:09
120 Adam Blythe (GBr) Lotto Soudal 0:13:15
121 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:13:17
122 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:13:28
123 Max Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:13:37
124 Jakub Mareczko (Ita) CCC Team 0:13:39
125 Lukas Postlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:13:41
126 Neil Van der Ploeg (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:13:43