Stage 3 had been billed as probably the hardest stage within the historical past of the Tour Down Below – however whereas it gave a clearer image of the general contenders, it nonetheless could not trigger main gaps on the high of the standings, with a minimum of 18 riders remaining in competition.
Javier Romo (Movistar) carved out a five-second hole on the line along with his solo profitable assault, and along with a 10-second time bonus, shot to the highest of the general standings and into the ochre jersey. Nevertheless, Jhonatan Narvaez (UAE Workforce Emirates-XRG) stays a detailed risk and is simply behind at eight seconds.
Narvaez, second total within the 2024 Tour Down Below, proved his climbing prowess when he was second to Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNl) atop Willunga Hill in final 12 months’s version. After this 12 months’s stage 3, he has teammate Jay Vine sitting solely seven extra seconds down on Romo, giving UAE yet one more card to play within the last three levels.
“Clearly, everybody’s come right here with some good kind and it was actually, actually robust to make a distinction,” Vine advised Cyclingnews in Uraidla. “I believe we had 15 to twenty, guys ultimately.”
“[It’s] a bit completely different to 2 years in the past after we went over Corkscrew [stage 3 in 2023], which was roughly the identical period of time, and we had three of us.”
That 12 months Vine went clear with eventual winner Simon Yates and Pello Bilbao, however this time on Knotts Hill the race got here again collectively after a flurry of assaults earlier than the summit, and Romo then made his profitable transfer on the rolling plateau after the KOM.
“It was an fascinating one,” Vin added. “It was irritating within the race – when you’ve that many riders, it is onerous to get cooperation, and likewise, everybody desires to not miss the transfer, so it simply comes right down to a giant group dash.”
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Other than the climb, the kilometre earlier than a technical descent with 12.5km to go noticed an enormous push from groups to place their contenders into place, including stress to an up-and-down stage that stored riders on their toes.
“It was hectic all day as we speak, however I believe we have all acquired our bark [skin] on us nonetheless, in order that’s good.”
Behind third-placed Patrick Konrad (Lidl-Trek), Finn Fisher-Black (Crimson Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Bastien Tronchon (Decathlon AG2R) and Magnus Sheffield (Ineos) is greatest younger rider chief Albert Philipsen – one in every of 4 different Lidl-Trek riders within the high 18.
Philipsen is in his first WorldTour race recent out of the junior ranks however already has excessive expectations for himself within the Tour Down Below. He was disenchanted to complete fourth and out of doors of the time bonuses in Uraidla.
“I did not fairly get in the best strikes and needed to shut a bit an excessive amount of,” Philipsen mentioned. “Then within the dash, I acquired near the limitations and needed to accept fourth place.”
Fisher-Black remarked on the techniques of Lidl-Trek, who had essentially the most riders within the group, however didn’t do extra on the entrance of the group to convey again Romol. However Philipsen defined, “It was fairly hectic within the last and onerous to speak collectively, so it did not actually play out in our favour this time.”
The Danish rider was studying WorldTour racing in actual time, particularly the significance of positioning in key moments. “It was actually scary going into the descent [before Knotts Hill] as a result of all people wished to be in first place. It was an all-out dash to get there. I did not fairly make it within the first lap however within the second lap, I used to be capable of place myself good with assist from quite a lot of teammates.”
Philipsen had teammates Konrad, Andrea Bagioli, Juan Pedro Lopez and Bauke Mollema within the group, however was kicking himself for not getting a greater end result.
“I am actually joyful to seize the white jersey [of best young rider] for now, however I am a bit disenchanted with the stage. I believe I might have finished extra.”
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