Tour Down Under Stage 3 – Live Coverage

Hello race fans! We're in store for some good action today. Stage 3 is going to provide the first real test for the general classification contenders. It's definitely one for the climbers, with the uphill finish at Paracombe back in the race and the riders following a 131km route from Unley 

After departing Unley under neutral, the peloton will climb the South Eastern Freeway and exit at Crafers before tackling the previously used route between Piccadilly, Summertown and Uraidla.

Working its way back toward Lobethal, the peloton will descend Fox Creek Road towards Cudlee Creek, then turn back towards Lobethal, pass through the township’s main street and exit to Gumeracha.

The peloton will then ride into Cudlee Creek and through Chain of Ponds to reach Inglewood, where the riders will again take on the circuit linking it to Houghton and Paracombe four times before doubling back towards Cudlee Creek and descending Gorge Road. At Torrens Hill Road, the riders will hit the final climb of the day into Paracombe.

There are two intermediate sprints with time bonuses today. Both are in Inglewood at 48km and 95km. One KOM comes at the finish line on Torrens Hill Road, a category 1 ascent with an average gradient of 9.3%. 

The big news form yesterday's stage, aside from the win by Caleb Ewan and taking over the race lead, was the late crash that took down a number of big-name riders, including Richie Porte, Elia Viviani, Ben Hermans and Simon Yates, who suffered a cut to his left knee. Find out more about the crash and riders' injuries HERE

Our reporters on the ground in Australia, Ellis Bacon and Stephen Farrand, have put together a comprehensive preview of today's stage that you'll want to read. You can find it HERE

There was morning rain today in Unley, but the roads will be dry for the start and temperatures will once agin be moderate. We're less than 10 minutes form the start.

Simon Yates and Elia Viviani are both signed-on for today's race despite their injuries from yesterday's crash. We'll have a story on the site shortly

The peloton is rolling out for a 6km neutral start and then the flag will officially drop on stage 3! Are You Ready To Rumble!!

The past two previous times the Torrens Hill Road climb to Paracombe was used as a  stage finish, the winners there – Rohan Dennis (2015) and Richie Porte (2017) – went on to win the final Ochre jersey.

The flag has dropped and we've already got a breakaway of three riders:  Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R La Mondiale), Guillaume Boivin (Israel Start-Up Nation) and Miles Scotson (FDJ) 

Out three leaders already have 2:40 on the peloton

Our Josh Croxton caught up with Romain Bardet, the AG2R leader who lost time yesterday after being caught up i a crash.

Was it legs or bike?
Yeah it was the bike. We fixed the problem with my wheel due to one man who crashed. 

What happened?
A guy came from the back and he hit me. He hit me hard so I had to stop first and fight to get back. Then I had to get back another time after trying to get a new wheel. 

The team tweeted about the derailleur
It was the wheel and the derailleur – it was bad. 

Shoe as well?
I was hit very hard on the left side, so it broke everything. 

You're 2:33 down now, is it over?
It's over. For sure it's over. But you can't do anything about it. 

What's the plan now?
Well see.

Will you go after stage wins?
I hope so. We'll see today with my legs now. We have a good guy in Vendrame, he's in a great place on the overall so we'll work for him.

Wow, the peloton is feeling generous today, and the gap to our three leaders has shot up to 6:20. There's a lot of racing left to go.

Today's route features 2,614 metres of elevation gain, that's roughly 8,576 feet.

Again, the riders in the breakaway are:

Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R La Mondiale)
Guillaume Boivin (Israel Start-Up Nation)
Miles Scotson (FDJ) 

Whoops! That gap should be 3:50 from the break to the peloton, not 6:50. Apologies.

Some photos from the start comin' at ya

Riders on the line

UCI President David Lappartient and BJarne Riis

11 kms into the stage and our three leaders have 4:10 on the peloton.

It's only 11 degrees C out there now for the peloton. In Fahrenheit that's roughly 52 degrees. Chilly for summer, eh!

Here's our story on Yates and Viviani starting today, with comments from Viviani and Matt White of Yates' Mitchelton-Scott team.

While we're waiting for the action (and temperature) to heat up in Australia, take a second to read about the first female mechanic in the pits at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup, and she hails from here in Portland, Oregon, USA!

Our Ellis Bacon reports from the finish that it's 15C (feels colder!) and windy up at Paracombe. Currently there is a headwind for the final climb up to the finish.

With 30km covered and 100km remaining, the three leaders have 3:10 on the bunch.

Race recap:

We have three riders in a breakaway ...
Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R La Mondiale)
Guillaume Boivin (Israel Start-Up Nation)
Miles Scotson (FDJ) 

...and the last time check was a gap of 3:10 to the peloton

Trouble in the breakaway as Boivin needs a bike change. Bouchard and Scotson are waiting for the Canadian to keep their trio intact with a lot of kilometres still to cover.

Viviani looks comfortable in the bunch

Bouchard and Scotson in the breakaway waiting for Boivin

Trek-Segafredo are helping out on the front keeping the breakaway in check. They're riding for Richie Porte today, as Kenny Ellisonde says here:

"We are all racing today for Richie. He is very motivated and today is an important day for the race. He is a few seconds behind due to time bonuses, but we see Richie is very strong, and that gives us confidence. He was involved in the crash yesterday, but he said he is feeling OK. It will be exciting today to race." 

Another rider who has the support of his team is American Neilson Powless from EF Pro Cycling. Here's what he had to say about today:

"The Aussie riders seem to have a little more kick in their legs than the rest of us. We came down here two weeks ago to get used to riding down here. Today is the big day. You see how Willunga Hill is tighter on time, so I think today we could see the top favourites emerge, if not the winner. The team will be supporting me, so it will be an important test for me."

Ellis bacon asked Mitchelton-Scott director Matt White about the winds at the finish and he gave us his insights:


"It's going to be a 25kph block headwind up Paracombe today, which makes it better for some and tricky for others. It's going to be a lot harder for a climber to go clear into a block headwind like that. It certainly suits Daryl. But if a group goes clear, it could potentially pop behind as well.

"We've got our bases covered, though, and it is what it is today. It'll be an interesting day, but also a crucial day. If a climber wants to win the race, they have to win solo today. The margins on Willunga [stage 6 on Sunday] will be pretty small, but I wouldn't expect the margins today to be that big, either."

With 60km remaining, out three leaders have 2:15 on the peloton.

We're just about 10km away from the first intermediate sprint in Inglewood with 47km to go. The leaders are crossing the sprint line now as they have started on the final circuits.

A reminder of who's in the breakaway:

Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R La Mondiale)
Guillaume Boivin (Israel Start-Up Nation)
Miles Scotson (FDJ) 

Jack Bauer is on the front of the peloton for Mitchelton-Scott tapping out the pace, followed by the entire Trek-Segafredo line-up for Porte. 

With 55km to go, the gap is 2:30

There's some high-speed feeding going on during this stage ...

A pair of Trek riders have pulled out of the line up and stopped on the side of the road for nature break, so it seems the peloton believes things are well under control as Bauer continues on the front of the bunch

Porte and Impey were two of the riders who pulled off the road.

The leaders reached the first intermediate sprint in Inglewood with 47km to go and simply rolled through, with Scotson assuming his turn on the font for the rotation and taking the three-second time bonus. The cooperation has seen their gap go up to 2:50.

Trek-Segafredo and Mitchelton-Scott continue to do the work on the front of the bunch.

Our breakaway riders are a mixed bunch. Isaeal Start-Up Nation's Boivin is a 30-year-old Canadian who has been with the Israeli team since 2016 when it raced on the Continental level. He previously raced on the WorldTour with Cannondale for two seasons, then moved to US Continental team Optum for a season before switching to Israel Cycling Academy. He is a two-time Canadian road race champion.

FDJ's Scotson is a 24-year-old Aussie who signed with the French WorldTour team last year after two seasons with BMC. He won the Australian road championship in 2017 in an upset victory over Simon Gerrans and Nathan Haas.

AG2R La Mondiale's Geoffrey Bouchard is a 27-year-old Frenchman who signed with the team last year after riding with them as a stagiare at the end of 2017. Bouchard won the mountains jersey at the 2019 Vuelta a Espana during his first year on the WorldTour.

As the leaders close in on 30km to go, and the big moment of the day on Torrens Hill Road approaches,the gap has been whittled down to just – wait – 36 seconds. The peloton is going fast, and the breakaway is shedding seconds faster than a dog losing a coat in the Australian summer heat.

There's another 11km loop around Paracombe before the race doubles back towards Cudlee Creek and descending Gorge Road. Then the riders will take on the hilltop finish up Torrens Hill Road to Paracombe.

With 25km to go, the gap is holding at 55 seconds.

The teams are starting to position for the bottom of the climb. It's like setting up for a sprint, but there are still 22km to go. And they've still got a breakaway at 50 seconds that they need to finally reel in.

Boivin has cracked. The Canadian sat up and is already back in the bunch, which is now 30 seconds behind Scotosn and Bouchard.  The race is hotting up, as they like to say down under

Porte and Impey are obvious favourites for the stage, but Jumbo-Visma's George Bennett has designs on the general classification here, as does Rohan Dennis (Team Ineos), Jay McCarthy (Bora-Hansgrohe), Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) and Hermann Pernsteiner (Bahrain McLaren). Israel  Start-Up Nation had featured Ben Hermans, but the Belgian climber had to quit after yesterday's crash.

With a 12-second gap and 13.5 km to go, Scotson has dropped Bouchard and is solo. The Frenchman has been reabsorbed, as the positioning in the peloton continues at a rapid pace. They all want to drop their man off at the front for the bottom of the final climb.

Scotson is in his super-tuck descending

The bunch is closing in fast. Scotson has less than 10 seconds with 10.5km to go

The race has reported that jJay McCarthy (Bora-Hansgrohe) crashed on the descent. TV footage showed the Australian up and standing next to his bike. he was reportedly the only rider involved.

Mitchelton-Scott are driving the pace on the bunch now, and they've just swooshed past Scotson like a locomotive. It's on.

Americans James Piccoli (Israel Start-Up Nation) and Neilson Powless (EF Pro Cycling) will also be looking for results today. Piccoli will have a free hand now that Hermans has abandoned.

Another crash has seen several riders go down. It's getting tense out there.

5 km to go!

Team Sunweb have a rider on the front now.

The peloton has hit final corner onto Torrens Hill Road 

Marco Marcato from UAE Team Emirates has attacked

Richie Porte has taken up the chase. He's got a gap on the others and is now at the head of the race 

Porte is opening up the gap

Porte will win the stage! They'll not catch him, although Simon Yates is charging fast

Porte gets it by five seconds. Yates is second. Impey finishes sixth

Correction. Rob Power was second on the stage, Yates was third. Rohan Dennis was fourth and Diego Ulissi fifth.

Stage top 10

1 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 3:14:09

2 Rob Power (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:00:05

2 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott

4 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Team Ineos

5 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates

6 Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott

7 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Team Ineos

8 Simon Geschke (Ger) CCC Team

9 George Bennett (NZl) Jumbo-Visma

10 Luke Hamilton (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:13

General Classification after stage 3

1 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 10:10:24

2 Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:06

3 Rob Power (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:00:09

4 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:11

5 George Bennett (NZl) Jumbo-Visma 0:00:14

6 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:15

7 Simon Geschke (Ger) CCC Team 0:00:15

8 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Team Ineos 0:00:15

9 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Team Ineos 0:00:15

10 Luke Hamilton (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:23