Tour Down Under 2024: Welsford again - Bora newcomer also wins stage 3

Sebastian Lindner

· 18.01.2024

Market day at Soudal - Quick Step ahead of stage 3? Not quite. Gil Gelders and Antoine Huby stock up on provisions.

Four riders attacked right from the start: (from right) Stefan de Bod, Luke Burns, Axel Mariault and Tristan Saunders.

But just 35 kilometres later there was only one trio left: Burns had dropped back after winning the two mountain classifications, as his mountain jersey was thus defended.

In the end, Saunders was the last to go after de Bod and Mariault also dropped back after the intermediate sprints. He was then dropped around 30 kilometres before the finish.

Fans had set up creative bottle collection stations along the way.

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He has struck again: after his victory at the start of the Tour Down Under 2024, Sam Welsford has also won stage 3 in a bunch sprint. The Australian relegated Elia Viviani and Daniel McLay to second place. Max Kanter was the best German in fifth place.

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This time, Welsford even had time to look back before crossing the finish line. It seemed almost casual how Welsford clinched his seventh victory as a professional. But his team had once again prepared perfectly, first in the person of Ryan Mullen and then with Danny van Poppel, so that the 27-year-old Australian had little trouble finishing.

Bora was the only team that managed to organise itself in the finale. First, a fast and technically difficult descent caused confusion in the last 15 kilometres, then an attack by Ruben Guerrerio (Movistar), who tried to ride a small wave 3000 metres before the end, like Isaac del Toro the day before to take the sprinters by surprise. It wasn't enough for the Portuguese rider to win, but the sprint trains of Bahrain-Victorious for Phil Bauhaus and Israel-Premier Tech for Corbin Strong were blown up - only Bora survived.

Del Toro remains overall leader, Plapp has to bury his ambitions

Welsford then summarised his day as "super crazy" on Australian TV. "Taking a stage win is great, but then to take a second one is really special. Winning in front of a home crowd is just super. I'm riding a wave of success at the moment." The recipe for success this time, in addition to strong teamwork: "We showed the necessary patience at the finish, which was crucial at very high speeds."

In the overall standings, del Toro continues to lead two seconds ahead of Strong, Axel Mariault (Cofidis) has fought his way up to third place thanks to bonus seconds at the intermediate sprints. The big loser of the day was Luke Plapp (Team Jayco AlUla). The Australian time trial and road champion was involved in a crash with a group of Astana riders around ten kilometres before the finish and ultimately lost almost ten minutes. As a result, he had to bury all his ambitions for overall victory.

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>> Tour Down Under 2024: Stages and start list

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>> Tour Down Under 2024: The favourites for overall victory

Tour Down Under 2024 - Results: The top 10 of stage 3

Sam Welsford (Bora-Hansgrohe) 3:20:42
Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:00
Daniel McLay (Arkea-B&B Hotels) +0:00
Laurance Pithie (Groupama-FDJ) +0:00
Max Kanter (Astana Qazqastan Team) +0:00
Caleb Ewan (Team Jayco-AlUla) +0:00
Alvaro Jose Hodeg (UAE Team Emirates) +0:00
Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty) +0:00
Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:00
Emils Liepins (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +0:00

The current standings in the overall standings

Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) 10:16:04
Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech) +0:02
Axel Mariault (Cofidis) +0:05
Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty) +0:07
Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) +0:07
Stefan de Bod (EF Education EasyPost) +0:07
Georg Zimmermann (Intermarche-Wanty) +0:08
Finn Fisher-Black (UAE Team Emirates) +0:08
Louis Barre (Arkea-B&B Hotels) +0:09
Caleb Ewan (Jayco-AlUla) +0:10

How the 3rd stage of the Tour Down Under 2024 went

Immediately after the start in Tea Tree Gully, four riders broke away: Luke Burns, who wore the mountain jersey, Tristan Saunders (both Australian national team), Stefan de Bod (EF Education EasyPost) and Mariault. Burns dropped back after just over 35 kilometres. By then, both of the day's mountain classifications had already been completed. Burns, who like Saunders normally rides for the Australian continental team BridgeLane, had secured the maximum points haul and now has 23 points, defending his jersey.

But even the remaining trio did not plan to complete the majority of the 145 kilometres to Campbelltown together ahead of the peloton. Mariault gained a total of six seconds at the two intermediate sprints and then waited for the peloton together with de Bod at Mount Pleasant, where the second classification was taken.

Saunders would have had to complete the last 58 kilometres to the finish as a soloist. However, the peloton caught him at around the halfway point. The breakaway had a maximum lead of three minutes over the course of the day.

The finale of the day was then introduced by the long and winding descent. In addition to the Astana squad, who were no longer able to help Kanter with his sprint preparation, and Plapp, Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) also crashed. For him, the race was over with a bleeding head. Unimpressed by this, Bora finally rode a sprint that secured Welsford the next stage win.

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