Adelaide (Australia) (AFP)
Richie Porte's double knock at home: the Trek team's Australian won the third stage of the Tour Down Under on Thursday alone and took the lead in the general classification.
At the end of the 131 km connecting Unley to Paracombe, in the south of the mainland, the 34-year-old rider took advantage of the 1,700 meters of the final ascent to break away.
Porte won five seconds ahead of fellow countryman Rob Power (Sunweb) and Briton Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott).
"I felt good at the bottom of the ascent and I dug a small hole," commented the winner of the 2017 Tour Down Under.
"It's just a shame that there was such a headwind in the end, because we could have really hurt" the competition, he added.
In the general classification, Porte dethroned Caleb Ewan (Lotto), winner on Wednesday of the 2nd stage, and ahead of the South African Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) by six seconds and Power by nine.
Friday, the 4th of six stages in the Australian event will lead the Norwood peloton to Murray Bridge, also in South Australia, over a distance of 153 km.
The classification of the 3rd stage, run on Thursday:
1. Richie Porte (AUS / TRE) the 131 km in 3 h 14 min 09 sec
2. Rob Power (AUS / SUN) at 0:05.
3. Simon Yates (GBR / MIT) mt
4. Rohan Dennis (AUS / INE) mt
5. Diego Ulissi (ITA / UAE) mt
6. Daryl Impey (RSA / MIY) mt
7. Dylan van Baarle (NED / INE) mt
8. Simon Geschke (GER / CCC) mt
9. George Bennett NZL / JUM) mt
10. Lucas Hamilton (AUS / MIT) at 0:13.
...
The general classification after the 3rd stage:
1. Richie Porte (AUS / TRE) 10 h 10 min 24 sec
2. Daryl Impey (RSA / MIT) at 0:06.
3. Rob Power (AUS / SUN) at 0:09.
4. Simon Yates (GBR / MIT) at 0:11.
5. George Bennett NZL / JUM) at 0:14.
6. Diego Ulissi (ITA / UAE) at 0:15.
7. Simon Geschke (GER / CCC) mt
8. Rohan Dennis (AUS / INE) mt
9. Dylan van Baarle (NED / INE) mt
10. Lucas Hamilton (AUS / MIT) at 0:23.
...
© 2020 AFP