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cycling: Tour Down Under Stage #3: Only Elia Viviani faster than Phil Bauhaus

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Phil Bauhaus Elia Viviani Tour Down Under

Cycling: Phil Bauhaus (Sunweb) just missed his second win at WorldTour level. The German sprinter has to settle for second place after a strong finish on the third stage of the Tour Down Under. Only Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) was faster today. Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott) defended his lead in the overall standings with third place.

Dlamini & Bowden tirelessly

Today's third stage of the Tour Down Under was shortened by 26 kilometers due to the extreme heat in Australia. The route from Glenelg to Victor Harbor was now only about 120 kilometers. However, this was not expected to be easy due to temperatures around 40 degrees Celsius. Unfortunately, Steve Morabito (Groupama-FDJ) was unable to start. The Swiss rider crashed yesterday, popped his shoulder back into place, and still managed to finish. We saw "same procedure as every day" again today in terms of breakaways. Nickolas Dlamini (Dimension Data) and Scott Bowden (UniSA-Australia) once again launched an attack. And once again – as expected – Dlamini secured maximum points in the King of the Mountains classification. This means the South African has now won all three mountain classifications.

Bora-hansgrohe and Katusha-Alpecin pay attention to the intermediate sprints

The peloton battled fiercely for bonus seconds in the intermediate sprints. Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) secured third place in the first sprint, while his teammate Jay McCarthy claimed the final second in the second. However, second place was also up for grabs there, as Dlamini dropped back into the peloton. Nathan Haas (Katusha-Alpecin) was therefore able to celebrate gaining two seconds.

Elia Viviani significantly faster - Phil Bauhaus strong second

Even though the last remaining breakaway rider, Scott Bowden, fought bravely, he had no chance against the sprinters' teams today either. Tiago Machado (Katusha-Alpecin) experienced something similar shortly before the finish. The Portuguese rider attempted an attack, but he too was caught early on. This led to another mass sprint, in which André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) unfortunately played no part. Mitchelton-Scott, on the other hand, had a completely different experience: Caleb Ewan was perfectly positioned. But the diminutive Australian didn't have enough power today. Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors), however, came charging from far back with considerable force. Phil Bauhaus (Sunweb) was pulled along on his wheel. Our man from the "5 to watch" section fought his way past Caleb Ewan with a daring leap to claim second place. But against Elia Viviani, there was no beating him today.

Result of the 3st stage of the Tour Down Under 2018

PLATZDriverCountryTeamTime
1.Elia VivianiItalyQuick Step Floors3:04:40
2.Phil BauhausGermanySunwebst
3.Caleb ewanAustraliaMitchelton-Scottst
4.Simone ConsonniItalyUAE Team Emiratesst
5.Peter SaganSlovakiaBora, hansgrohest

Overall standings after stage 3 of the 2018 Tour Down Under

PLATZDriverCountryTeamTime
1.Caleb ewanAustraliaMitchelton-Scott10:58:36
2.Elia VivianiItalyQuick Step Floors+ 0: 10
3.Daryl ImpeySouth AfricaMitchelton-Scott+ 0: 14
4.Jay McCarthyAustraliaBora, hansgrohe+ 0: 15
5.Peter SaganSlovakiaBora, hansgrohe+ 0: 16
Tags:BauhausBowdenDlaminiewanNewsTower Down UnderViviani

About Michael Behringer

Cycling with all its tactics, stage analyses, placements and forecasts are Michael Behringer's great passion. In 1996 he tracked his first Tour de France. Since then he has observed almost every race. His passion for cycling has been with him for over two decades. There is no end in sight.