Owain Doull takes win on stage 3 of Jayco Herald Sun Tour

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It was a Team Sky – and a Welsh – one-two at the finish of stage 3 of the 2019 Jayco Herald Sun Tour on Friday when Owain Doull and Luke Rowe crossed the line together after the two riders escaped in the final five kilometres from a group of nine riders, with Doull taking the victory.

Overall race leader Michael Woods (EF Education First) kept his powder dry in the safety of the peloton, with the race set to be decided on four ascents of the climb of Arthurs Seat on Saturday's penultimate stage.

A crash just 35 kilometres into the stage brought down a number of riders, and the two riders who came off worst were Carter Turnbull of the KordaMentha Australian Team, who was knocked unconscious, and was to be kept in hospital overnight for observation after recovering consciousness, and Australian road race champion Michael Freiberg (Pro Racing Sunshine Coast), who was also taken to nearby Traralgon Hospital, where he received stitches for facial injuries and treatment for cuts and bruises.

Soon after the crash, a group of nine riders escaped off the front, and Doull, Rowe, Nathan Elliott (KordaMentha Australian Team), Trek-Segafredo's Will Clarke, Team Bridgelane's Neil Van Der Ploeg, Conor Murtagh (Oliver's Real Food Racing), Drapac Cannondale Holistic's Liam White, Ryan Cavanagh (St George Continental) and EvoPro's Luke Mudgway had built up a 5:25 lead over the bunch by the halfway stage of the 127km stage between Sale and Warragul in Victoria, Australia.

While Woods' EF Education First squad was content to control the race and let the break have some rope, Mitchelton-Scott came to the front later on the stage, but weren't able to reel the break in, with Doull's Team Sky teammate Kristoffer Halvorsen bringing the bunch home 1:19 behind the stage winner.

The leading nine riders worked well together, but on a steep rise five kilometres before the finish, Rowe and Doull took the opportunity to attack the break, building up a 30-second lead to take the Sky one-two, with the remaining seven riders left to fight it out between them for third place, which was taken by Drapac Cannondale Holistic's Liam White.

"We'd earmarked today's stage as a potential day for the break to go, with how the race was unfolding, and we were both pretty keen," Doull said at the finish.

"Luke and I made sure that we lost time yesterday so that the break could get a bit of rope out on the road, and it came around perfectly for us with the two of us being away with 5km to go. Luke – the gentleman – said to me, 'You can have it,' so I was more than happy to take it," he said.

With the group's gap decreasing, the two Welshman had made their decision: "Luke and I said we'd get everyone going through, and with 5km to go we just started 'one-two-ing'. Luke went first, and didn't quite get the gap, and then I went over the top, and got a gap, and then Luke managed to jump across, and after that we just TTed [time-trialled] it to the finish.

"It sounds simple, but it took a lot more than that," he laughed.

Woods had a relatively simple day in the yellow leader's jersey, and will be ready to try to defend his lead on Saturday's fourth stage, which finishes with four climbs of Arthurs Seat on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula.

"My team was fantastic all day," said Woods. "I could really lean on them, and they kept me calm. I managed to stay safe, and am lucky to have such a good team around me.

"We did a great job of controlling the break. Everybody that was up the road was eight minutes or more down on the GC," he explained, "and we just made sure that we kept the gap down, and brought it down to three minutes before Mitchelton took over, who weren't able to bring it down totally.

"The onus is now on a lot of teams to really be aggressive tomorrow [stage 4]," said Woods, "but we're prepared for that."

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