Tour Down Under stage 3: Sam Welsford powers to another dominant sprint victory

Sam Welsford (Bora-Hansgrohe) doubled-up at the Tour Down Under with another dominant sprint victory on stage 3, adding to the win he took on stage 1.

Clearly in a rich vein of early-season form, the Australian capitalised on a strong lead out by teammate Danny van Poppel to surge to victory ahead of Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers) in second and Dan McLay (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) in third.

• Read more: Tour Down Under stage 1: Sam Welsford takes the sprint win into Tanunda

The victory came after what proved to be a fairly straightforward and dull day in the peloton as the sprint teams kept proceedings under control throughout. Things sparked to life in the technical downhill run to the finish in Campbelltown where Bora-Hansgrohe once again perfectly set up their star sprinter, who duly delivered his second victory in three days of racing.

After the race, the Australian was quick to praise the work of his teammates.

"Another one, it’s super crazy. To get one, let alone two, is really special,” Welsford said after the finish. “These guys [his teammates] are just amazing. Full commitment down the gorge. Even just the whole day, GC guys pushing wind for me. It’s just super nice to have that belief in you. Just an incredible ride and I’m riding the wave right now.”

Sprint teams in full control

At first glance, stage 3’s profile appeared to be relatively easy with only two categorised climbs, but lurking within the 145.3km route was over 2,000m of climbing. That ensured that it would be another leg-sapping day in the saddle, but both of the climbs and much of the climbing was contained to the first half of the race, so it was still expected to be a day for the fast men.

With the prospects of holding the sprint teams at bay appearing to be slim, there were few takers for the day’s breakaway. Luke Burns (Australia), who was looking to increase his lead in the King of the Mountains classification after stage 2’s breakaway exploits, was the first rider to roll off the front of the peloton on the opening classified Tea Tree Gully Hill climb, which riders tackled immediately from the gun. He was soon joined by teammate Tristan Saunders and the pair rolled over the top of the climb together, with Burns taking the maximum three points at the summit to increase his lead in the KoM classification.

As the Australian duo forged on ahead, there was more interest in the breakaway stirring behind as Axel Mariault (Cofidis) and Stefan de Bod (EF Education-EasyPost) launched out of the peloton. Mariault claimed the remaining KoM point before the duo bridged across to create the day’s four-man breakaway.

The four men worked well together and their lead swiftly rose to nearly three minutes but that is as high as it would get all day. Keen to distinguish any threat to a bunch finish, the sprint teams set about keeping proceedings on a tight leash and the gap stuck at between two and three minutes for much of the day. Bora-Hansgrohe, working for stage 1 winner Sam Welsford, and Jayco-AlUla, hoping to set up Caleb Ewan, were the main protagonists.

Out front, the breakaway riders mopped up the remaining KoM points on Whispering Wall with still over 100km remaining. Mirroring the result from the first KoM, there was no contest for the three points as Burns was allowed to roll over first to guarantee another day in the KoM jersey, ahead of teammate Saunders and Mariault. With maximum points secured, Burns’ work for the day was complete and he drifted out of the back of the break, leaving a trio of riders out front.

All classified climbs for the day were complete but there were still two intermediate sprints to fight for and they were more hotly contested. Mariault, having launched his sprint first, held off De Bod to finish first at the opening sprint to take three points and bonus seconds. The Frenchman then doubled up at the second sprint, once again out-powering De Bod as Saunders settled for third. At this point both Mariault and De Bod, with the peloton lurking within two minutes behind, decided to call it quits for the day.

Undeterred, Saunders ploughed on alone at the front of the race but his solo outing soon ended after 30km lonely kilometres when he was reeled in with 31km remaining. Although there was still a considerable distance left, multiple teams took to the front of the peloton as the bustle for positioning started early, partly spurred on by the technical downhill run to the finish in Campbelltown that lay ahead.

The nerves at the front of the peloton persisted as the peloton flew down the long final descent to the finish and these nerves were justified when a group of riders, including Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla), hit the deck at high speed.

The bustle at the front of the peloton continued all the way until the final kilometres when Bora-Hansgrohe managed to wrestle back control of the bunch through Danny van Poppel, who held a searing pace all the way until the final few hundred metres. Capitalising on his teammate's near-perfect lead-out, Welsford duly kicked to victory, leaving Viviani and McLay in his wake.

Meanwhile, pre-stage race leader Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) safely finished in the bunch to retain a two-second lead at the top of the standings.