Viviani claims TDU third stage

ADELAIDE, Australia: Italian Elia Viviani capitalised on a lapse in concentration from race leader Caleb Ewan to sweep past the Australian and claim the third stage of the UCI season-opening Tour Down Under in South Australia on Thursday.

Ewan and his Mitchelton-SCOTT teammates had the race well in hand with 500 metres of the sprint to go when the young Australian appeared to ease off in a bid to give teammate and final lead-out rider Alex Edmondson the stage win. But Viviani unleased a powerful sprint and Ewan was late to respond, allowing the Italian rider and Germany’s Phil Bauhaus to storm past in final 100 metres.

The 146.5-kilometre stage from Glenelg on the Adelaide beachfront to the Fleurieu Peninsula town of Victor Harbor was shortened by 26.5-kilometres because of the extreme heatwave affecting the region, with temperatures reaching 42 degrees Celsius during Thursday’s racing.

Viviani said he had tried to save his energy throughout the race and said his preparation on the track when he arrived in Australia had helped with his speed in the sprint finish. The race began cautiously due to the weather but it soon took a familiar pattern when South Africa’s Nicholas Dlamini and Australian Scott Bowden, who have been in all three breaks of this year’s race, attacked and opened a three minute lead.

Dlamini took the King of the Mountain points for the third day in a row and the pair stayed ahead until Dlamini dropped back to the peloton with 53 kilometres remaining, leaving Bowden on his own for another 30 kilometres until he too was reeled in.