Former Tour de France champion Cadel Evans won stage 3 of the Santos Tour Down Under on Thursday in Campbelltown, Australia. Evans (BMC Racing) attacked his way to victory in the 145-kilometer leg from Norwood.
Overnight leader Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) ceded the leader’s jersey to Evans, who rode a break-neck descent from the Corkscrew Road climb to take the double.
Jens Voigt (Trek Factory Racing) and Andriy Grivko (Astana) were the last of the day’s long breakaway to give way to the peloton, seeing their day on the front end with 17km remaining.
André Greipel and Olivier Kaisen pulled mountains leader Adam Hansen at the front of the peloton through the turn onto the Corkscrew Road climb, just over 10km from the finish. BMC Racing soon took up the pace-making, setting a tempo that decimated the field. With 9.5km to go, there were roughly 20 riders in the front group.
As the riders approached the summit of the Cat. 1 climb, Richie Porte (Sky) went to the front, Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) planted on his wheel. When Evans pressed ahead, only Porte could follow. Behind them, Gerrans led the chase in his orange leader’s jersey.
Evans surged in the final kilometer of the climb, leaving Porte behind. Gerrans rode onto the rear wheel of the Sky captain, but Evans, the former world champion, ran toward the summit out of the saddle.
Evans, who entered the day 11 seconds out of the overall lead, held 14 seconds on Gerrans and Porte at the top of the climb.
The Santos Tour Down Under continues Friday with the 148km fourth stage, from Unley to Victor Harbor.
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