Tour Down Under: Gerrans wins stage 3 in Campbelltown

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Simon Gerrans made up for the disappointment of a final kilometre crash on stage 2 of the Tour Down Under yesterday to claim a photo-finish sprint victory on stage 3 over Rohan Dennis (BMC) and Michael Woods (Cannondale) and move into the overall race lead in Campbelltown.

The win is Gerrans’ first personal victory since the 2014 Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal and fourth stage win at the Australian WorldTour race.

“To come away with a stage win and the leader’s jersey, we couldn’t have hoped for a lot more than that from today,” Gerrans said after collecting the ochre jersey.

With the solo breakaway rider of the day, Laurens De Vreese (Astana), caught with 21.4km left of the 139km stage, the peloton lifted the pace to over 90km/h on the approach to the Corkscrew climb. Tinkoff, riding for race leader Jay McCarthy, caused a split in the bunch that caught out Gerrans and Orica-GreenEdge while a crash ended the hopes of Julian Arredondo (Trek-Segafredo).

Richie Porte (BMC) was the first rider to attack the thinned bunch on the 2.4km climb, with Michael Woods (Cannondale) and Sergio Henao (Team Sky) next to surge clear. The attacks caused further reaction on the climb as Henao lead over the KOM with Woods close behind.

Porte and Dennis then attacked on the technical descent to bring the group of Gerrans, McCarthy, Woods, Steve Morabito (FDJ), Rafael Valls Ferri (Lotto Soudal), Sergio Henao (Team Sky), Domenico Pozzovivo (IAG2R La Mondiale),  and Ruben Fernandez Andujar (Team Movistar),
across to Woods and Henao, having crested the climb within 10 seconds of the duo. With Gerrans and McCarthy both present in the front group that hit speeds in excess of 100km/h, it appeared it would be winner takes all with 10 bonus seconds on the line crucial to the GC aspirations of both riders.

With Gerrans timing his move to perfection, the 35-year-old nudged Dennis for the win while Woods stole third place to knock McCarthy to second on general classification.

“We saw on the Corkscrew there are some really strong climbers in the bunch with Henao and the Cannondale rider [Woods, ed] they slipped away and Richie Porte was really strong as well, and we saw Rohan Dennis and Jay McCarthy do some really strong rides out there today so it’s going to be a really tight race."

Defending champion Dennis explained post race that while a little disappointed, he couldn't help but say 'chapeau' to Gerrans.

"It is a little bit disappointing. I thought I did a real sprint, but Gerrans … you can’t take anything away from his class act," Dennis said. "He hasn't won Liege, Tour de France stages, beaten guys like Sagan in a sprint for nothing. And I really have to take my hat off to him."

Luis Leon Sanchez won the sprint 13 seconds later with Jack Bobridge (Trek-Segafredo) leading home a large group at 22 seconds.

Ahead of what is expected to be a sprinters stage to Victor Harbor, Gerrans leads McCarthy by three seconds with Dennis at five seconds and Woods at 11 seconds. Henao rounds out the top five, 15 seconds back.

How it unfolded

Following an out of season overcast and slightly rainy start to the day, when the riders rolled out of beach-side suburb Glenelg the sun had returned from behind the clouds. Lone attacker Laurens De Vreese (Astana) quickly gained a three-minute lead over the peloton inside 10km of the 139km stage.

De Vreese’s lead dipped down to 2:30 with Tinkoff taking up front position, relieving Orica-GreenEdge of their duties. Dennis was caught up in a minor crash at the 22km mark, forcing a bike change before he re-joined the peloton. At the first intermediate sprint point at 33km, De Vreese took the honours two minutes ahead of JJ Lobato (Movistar) and McCarthy while Gerrans declined to contest.

With 50km covered, De Vreese's advantage had grown back out to three minutes. KOM leader Manuele Boaro was on the front for Tinkoff with Lampre-Merida’s fuchsia kit hard to miss sitting just behind the Italian. The gap dropped down to two minutes within five kilometres with a further 30 seconds shaved off to leave the Belgian 1:30 ahead of the peloton after 60km of the stage.

At the halfway mark of the stage, Tinkoff appeared content with a gap of around 1:45 passing though yesterday’s stage finish of Stirling. The gap remained as the peloton went through the feed zone in Mylor. With the riders enjoying lunch, De Vreese increased his lead out to four minutes at the second intermediate sprint point of the day in Oakbank.

Orica-GreenEdge and Tinkoff lined up their teams for the sprint for bonus seconds with Ewan on team duty to snare the two bonus seconds and McCarthy picking up one second. The battle for the time bonuses cut De Vreese’s lead to under 3:30 with 40km to race.

UniSA-Australia showed their faces on the front, with 37km/h recorded as the average speed for the first 100km. As the riders approached Cudlee Creek for the final 25km of racing, Cannondale and AG2R-La Mondiale contributed and De Vreese’s advantage fell below one minute. With 21.4km to go, the Belgian was caught and sucked up by the peloton with the bunch averaging 63km/h prior to the catch.

On the turn into Gorge Road, Tinkoff bossed the race to briefly pull clear with a crash taking down Tyler Farrar, Marcus Burghardt, Lucas Hamilton, Songezo Jim, Julian Arredondo, Koen De Kort and Bram Tankink at the 18km to go mark. The high pace split the peloton with Gerrans and Orica-GreenEdge missing the move with around 30 riders in the front group.

The groups reformed with 14km to go as Team Sky, Cannondale and Katusha raised the average speed to 74km/h. With 10km to go, Sky ensured the high pace lined out the peloton as Tinkoff led on the turn into Corkscrew Road at 93.8km/h.

AG2R and LottoNL-Jumbo kept the pace high on the early slopes as GreenEdge were locked in behind. Porte, Dennis, Michael Woods and Domenico Pozzovivo led, but at 6km to go McCarthy danced clear with Gerrans on his wheel. At 5.8km Porte then made a move with a small group of eight riders as Dennis was in second group.

Porte, Henao, Woods and Pozzovivo surged clear to ride away from Gerrans and McCarthy, before Woods then upped the tempo again to cause further reaction before Henao counter attacked as the duo rode clear.

On the descent, Woods was pedalling while tucked in on the top tube as Porte rode away from the chase group to try and bring back the two leaders. With speeds in excess of 100km on the descent, the group of 10 all came back together for the final bunch sprint. While McCarthy showed his chops in Stirling, the experience of Gerrans saw him claim the stage and leader’s jersey. The third rider to do so in three stages.

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