Tour Down Under: Cadel Evans takes stirring solo win and overall lead

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Cadel Evans (BMC) rode to a morale boosting victory on Stage 3 at the Tour Down Under after attacking on the slopes of the Corkscrew, distancing his rivals to open a gap which he extended on the fast descent into Campbelltown to win by 15 seconds. Richie Porte (Sky) broke clear with Evans on the climb but couldn't sustain the speed that Evans was setting and was joined by Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) who has put under pressure from Evans and the duo summited the climb together. They were joined by a larger group on the 7.4km descent to the finishline but could do nothing to reel in the 2011 Tour de France winner who has now won either a stage or jersey in three decades of racing the Tour Down Under.

"I had an idea of the opportunity I could get in Corkscrew climb and I knew what to do. My team did a fantastic job to position me where I had to be. I had been training well but winning is what we are here for," Evans said after claiming the stage win. 

"It’s amazing to be back racing in Australia and win. A stage race is all about the leader’s jersey. Time bonus is the key to win this race overall. We’ll see how it goes in the next stages. I haven’t won the GC yet.

Gerrans had entered the stage as a favourite for the win with ds Matt White stating yesterday that Gerrans was undroppable in response to guestions that BMC and Sky would form an alliance today but Gerrans missed out on bonus seconds to concede the ochre jersey. "I didn’t maintain the overall lead but that doesn’t mean the race is lost yet, definitely not. Once on the climb it was everybody for himself, but the climb was so steep… In the downhill, that’s where Cadel showed his strength. I’m disappointed to lose the ochre jersey but it’s not over."

Despite losing contact with Evans on the climb, Porte shrugged off the result and is already targeting Saturday's stage up Willunga Hill. "Cadel was absolutely flying, I tried to go with him. In those hairpins, I couldn't stay with him, and he got away. It's a little disappointing, but Saturday is another hilltop finish, I am quite hopeful we have the team to at least get up there on the podium," Porte said.

"Yesterday, they were saying the same thing about Simon [that race is over]. I guess Saturday will decide it all."

Nathan Haas (Garmin-Sharp) won the bunch sprint for second and Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) continued to impress with third place. With bonus seconds, Evans now holds a 12 second lead over Gerrans on a day when the gc was given a shake up. Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp) was one rider who saw his ambitions for the win disappear as was Javi Moreno (Movistar) as both lost minutes.

The race came alive due when Evans decided to ride off the front and Porte was the only one who could go with him. Porte was keeping Evans company and looking strong but wasn’t able to match Evans. Gerrans made his way up the road to Porte but instead of catching Evans they were caught by the group behind who lost time trying to organise the chase.

Gerrans was disappointed to lose the jersey but said the race was still wide open. "I don't think we've ever seen the leader, in the last couple of years, who has the leader's jersey early manages to win it. It's not going to be easy for Cadel. We're going to throw everything at him, that's for sure."

In the group were the BMC pair Brent Bookwalter and Ben Herman and it quickly became not a matter of Evans being chased down but how many seconds could he put into Gerrans and Porte.

Robert Gesink (Belkin) was tenth on the stage and applauded Evans for his ride. "Those three [Evans, Porte, Gerrans] were a bit stronger than the rest of us. We tried to chase them, we got two of them back, but even that was difficult because BMC had two guys there, and they were trying to block us, as they should do," Gesink said.

"In the end, Cadel remained just a bit too far for us. It was a difficult day. We are still up in the front. That's how cycling works, you keep trying to win something, so you look forward to the next opportunity. Cadel was impressive, he's in the best shape now, and so are the other Aussie guys."

The day’s racing started as it has this week with a breakaway trying to get established. Drapac were represented in the break for the third straight day with Travis Meyer keeping Jens Voigt (Trek), Jérôme Cousin (Europcar) and Andriy Grivko (Astana) company on the roads. The four riders maintained a lead that hovered between two and three minutes with the peloton content to keep them on a moderate leash.

Once the riders rolled through the feed zone Orica-GreenEdge came to the front with Matt Goss and Michael Mathews setting the tempo. The catch of the break was made in the kilometres just before the peloton made its way on the early slopes of the Corkscrew as Sky and BMC ramped up the speed.

Voigt made it into his first break of 2014 and said after the race he is still ambitious on the bike. “I picked today’s stage to break away because nobody else did but I knew that it was close to impossible to go for the stage win. We never had more than two and half minutes lead because Andrey Grivko was at 21 seconds, he wouldn’t get any freedom.

"I might be getting old but I still have high expectations about myself. It’s because of self respect that I feel obliged to my face to the people. I don’t want to be just a number in the bunch. On the road side, every second or third spectator yelled my name."

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