Tour Down Under 2018 Stage 3 Preview: As Home Favourite Caleb Ewan Heads GC

Stage 2 Review - Caleb Ewan had a bumper day, gaining redemption for his Stage 1 defeat and taking victory in the uphill stage finish in what was a red-letter day for Mitchelton-Scott, who took a 1-2 thanks to Daryl Impey’s second on the day. Jay McCarthy, a leading contender for the overall title this week, took third and crucial bonus seconds ahead of World Champion Peter Sagan, who ended the stage in fourth.

There was a sense of Déjà vu with the breakaway, where three of the four that went away were involved in the break yesterday; Will Clarke (EF Education First-Drapac), polka-dot jersey holder Nicholas Dlamini (Dimension Data) and Scott Bowden (UniSA-Australia). Movistar neo-pro Jaimie Castrillo would join them to make it four on this outing.

Dlamini, seeing to further his lead in the mountains competition, would take the points at the first and only categorised climb of the day at the Tea Tree Gully before sitting back into the peloton after a sterling job well done. At around the same point, Bowden had a puncture and his recovery to re-join the escape was in doubt, but he eventually managed to reattach himself to the group.

The peloton was in a relaxed enough mood to let the gap grow out to over 6 minutes, during which Clarke would beat Castrillo and Bowden to the first sprint finish at Main Bank; In the meantime, Ramunas Navardauskas went to the front to help Lotto with the chase, and the Lithuanian’s sterling efforts managed to reduce what was a gap of 6:20 to just under 4:35.

Clarke would take the second intermediate sprint of the day once again, making him the virtual leader on the road even without the gap that the breakaway had over the peloton as he beat Bowden and Castrillo; With his work done for the day, he sat up and waited for the peloton, joined by Bowden, which left Castrillo on his own and in the spotlight as the field headed into Stirling.

The young neo-pro also managed to lead the field on his own for a whole lap of the Stirling circuit, and even with 20 kilometres to go the gap was still holding steady at 1:15, a hugely impressive effort. He was caught with just 10 kilometres to go. Mitchelton-Scott were a notable presence on the front, joined by BMC and Bora as gaps began to open through the peloton.

Robert Gesink of LottoNL would be one of a few who hit the front rather early, but Ewan was being guided expertly by Impey, and once he hit the front it was always going to be a challenge to prevent the Australian from taking the stage.

Stage 3 Preview - Glenelg > Victor Harbor 146.72 KM - The Route:

The stage has been shortened thanks to the extreme heat with the riders only taking one lap of the circuit around Victor Harbour – lasting 13km. Before that, there is another categorised climb, and one that is likely to be of interest to the polka dot jersey Nicholas Dlamini (Dimension Data) intently; The Category 1 climb of Penny Hill Road, which is 3.1km at a rather sharp 6.1%.

Before we reach the circuit, there are also two sprints; The first on Main South Road and the second on Inman Valley Road in the aptly named Inman Valley.

The Circuit - Has two rises upon it, but neither are going to be overly difficult for the riders who passed a far toughest test in the same conditions yesterday. The first climb is 940m long at 3.8% and labelled McCracken Hill by locals; The one after that is 1.07km and averages 4.3%. These will be the likely pressure points but taken once, most of the peloton will be hoping to get over them with their chances of stage success intact. 

The Finish - After the second climb, there are 3km of flat, which at high speed is likely to bring the peloton back together for what should be a sprint. The last 1.5kms are the complicated parts of it. There’s a roundabout just before 1km to go, normally taken down the left-hand side by the field, and a quite narrow approach to the other significant part of the finish; A left/right combinations before a run to the line. The left and right-hander should come with just over 500 meters to go before the sprint finish. 

Contenders - It would be a surprise if the first four on the first stage didn’t combinate here. Lotto-Soudal have brought a very strong team for Andre Greipel in the shape of Bak, Hansen, Sieberg and Debusschere and this showed when he took the first stage. He beat Caleb Ewan, yesterday’s stage winner and the overall leader that day, with Peter Sagan (fourth yesterday) in third. Elia Viviani was in fourth and is also likely to be involved here. Look out too for Phil Bauhaus, who was out of his ground before launching his sprint on the first stage, and Sam Bennett, who is another sprinter from Bora capable of launching a serious challenge.