Report: First Quickstep Win for Viviani Down Under

Italian Elia Viviani riding for his new team Quickstep, has his first win of 2018 on Stage 3 of the Santos Tour Down Under

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Report: First Quickstep Win for Viviani Down Under

Italian Elia Viviani has broken through to claim victory in the Big Screen Video Stage 3 of the Santos Tour Down Under.

It’s the first win in three appearances for the Quick Step Floors team rider who has been edging closer to a win after a fourth on the opening stage and sixth yesterday.

Behind him in second place was German Phil Bauhaus (Team Sunweb) with Australian Caleb Ewan third across the line which ensured he held onto the Santos Ochre Race Leader’s jersey. Race organisers decided to shorten today’s stage by 26 kilometres due to the extreme weather that saw the air temperature top 42 degrees while the temperature on the road was hotter still. Despite the conditions the race time for the shortened 120 kilometre route of 3.04.40 was faster than expected.

“It was a really hot day but I managed to refresh myself until 200 metres to go,” said the 28 year old stage winner who last year claimed seven season victories riding with Team Sky. “My (new) team has done an amazing job and I thank them all. “I’ve never won so early in a season and it’s not easy to have a good condition in January but I’ve done some work on the track for that,” said the 2016 omnium Olympic Champion who headed to the Adelaide Superdrome last Thursday and Saturday for training sessions on the track to tune up his sprint condition. “I’m delighted to win the fourth bunch sprint of the year.”

Mitchelton-Scott rider Caleb Ewan wears the Santos Ochre Leader’s jersey. Photo: Santos Tour Down Under / Regallo

Quick Step Floors team director Rik van Slycke was thrilled to see his new recruit score a win. “It is an important victory for Elia today,” said van Slycke. “It is always important to get an early victory, because it starts the ball rolling. “In each day this week he was getting stronger, and today there was no question,” said van Slycke. “He made a smart sprint and he deserves the win.”

Ewan was disappointed to miss out on a win after he misjudged the conditions in the finishing straight and left his sprint too late. “I got an absolutely perfect lead out, My teammates did exactly what I asked them to do but I stuffed up at the end,” admitted the young Mitchelton Scott speedster. “There was a head wind and I waited for too long.

“It’s our fourth sprint and there’s a fourth different winner (which) shows how high the (level of) competition is,” said Ewan who has a ten second overall lead on Viviani and 14 seconds on his team mater, Daryl Impey as the race heads into two days more suited to the climbers than the sprinters. “Mentally I can calm down in the next two days and I’ll be back in a winning mood on the last day.”

Ewan also maintains his lead in the southaustralia.com Sprint and the #seesouthaustralia Best Young Rider classifications while Bahrain Merida continues to lead the Wilson Parking Winning Team rankings. The stage began in the beachside suburb of Glenelg where the temperature was already over 35 degrees before the official start and whilst the crowds were understandably down on last year a hardy 85 thousand fans turned out to support the stars of world cycling.

The breakaway of Nicholas Dlamini and Australian rider Scott Bowden. Photo: Santos Tour Down Under / Regallo

South African Nicolas Dlamini, Team Dimension Data was again on the attack early and, as was the case on Wednesday, UniSA-Australia team rider Scott Bowden was his companion in the early breakaway. The pair set up a handy lead as the bunch rode tempo more than five minutes back, conserving energy in the hot, gusty conditions.

“It wasn’t really difficult to ride away from the bunch today because it was so hot and not many riders wanted to attack,” said Dlamini. “In the breakaway we rode our own pace.”

The tactic for Dlamini was obvious as the only Subaru King of the Mountain contest of the day was 38 kilometres into the stage. The 3 kilometre long climb up Pennys Hill boasted a seven percent gradient an was the first category one climb of the Tour. Bowden launched an attack early on the climb but misjudged the effort and with 600 metres of climbing still to go to the summit he was spent and Dlamini powered on to claim the maximum points.

Bowden collected second place while 2017 Tour champion, Richie Porte (BMC Racing team) led the peloton across the line for third place points. “I played it really tactically to win the KOM again,” said Dlamini. “It was important to get today as it was a Category 1 climb. There’s no way I’ll win the stage tomorrow but I can target the first time up Willunga Hill to secure the jersey on Saturday.”

Riders contest the first sprint at Myponga. Photo: Santos Tour Down Under / Regallo

Around 20 kilometres further on was the first southaustralia.com Sprint of the day was also claimed by Dlamini ahead of Bowden. Back in the field a mini battle for points was fought out with Bora hansgrohe’s Sam Bennett picking up third place points. That flurry of pace saw the lead margin come down to two minutes and with the climbing jersey safely on his back for another day Dlamini dropped back to rejoin the main bunch.

Bowden continued and maintained a steady tempo to keep the bunch a couple of minutes behind him. The second southaustralia.com Sprint came at Inman Valley, and Bowden, alone in front, claimed top points.

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As the peloton approached the sprint line, a minute-and-a-half later, Colombian Jhonatan Restrepo (Katusha Alpecin) surged off the front drawing a counter attack by Australian Jay McCarthy (Bora hansgrohe). But another Katusha rider, Australian Nathan Haas, came over the top of him to claim second place points ahead of McCarthy in third.

UAE Team Emirates rider Marco Marcato said the peloton had welcomed the decision to shorten the stage. “Every time the speed went up, everyone started to suffer,” said Marcato. “We know it’s hot at this race, the heat is part of this race, but if we race another 20 kilometres the result in the same. “Today I think we emptied the fridge of water bottles in the team car.

“Tomorrow? That will be OK, because it is only one hard effort at the end,” said Marcato of tomorrow’s Bupa Stage 4 will start one hour earlier than the published time in a bid to minimise the impact the extreme heat.

The stage will set out from Norwood at 10.30am the peloton will tackle the famous Norton Summit for the Subaru King of the Mountain before riding uphill into Uraidla and and under the finish arch at the end of the 128 kilometre stage.

The chasing peloton coming into Victor Harbor. Photo: Santos Tour Down Under / Regallo

 

Lotto Soudal and Michelton Scott control the peloton. Photo: Santos Tour Down Under / Regallo
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STAGE 3

1 VIVIANI Elia QST ITA 00″
2 *BAUHAUS Phil SUN GER ‘ ‘
3 *EWAN Caleb MTS AUS ‘ ‘
4 *CONSONNI Simone UAD ITA ‘ ‘
5 SAGAN Peter BOH SVK ‘ ‘
6 CLARKE Simon EFD AUS ‘ ‘
7 *EDMONDSON Alexander MTS AUS ‘ ‘
8 DEMPSTER Zakkari AUS AUS ‘ ‘
9 DEVENYNS Dries QST BEL ‘ ‘
10 MCCARTHY Jay BOH AUS ‘ ‘
11 OSS Daniel BOH ITA ‘ ‘
12 IZAGUIRRE Gorka TBM ESP ‘ ‘
13 GESINK Robert TLJ NED ‘ ‘
14 SELIG Rudiger BOH GER ‘ ‘
15 *PEDERSEN Mads TFS DEN ‘ ‘
16 SANCHEZ GIL Luis Leon AST ESP ‘ ‘
17 *MINALI Riccardo AST ITA ‘ ‘
18 *RESTREPO VALENCIA Jhonatan TKA COL ‘ ‘
19 IMPEY Daryl MTS RSA ‘ ‘
20 HAAS Nathan TKA AUS ‘ ‘
21 MARCATO Marco UAD ITA ‘ ‘
22 *GUERREIRO Ruben TFS POR ‘ ‘
23 ROUX Anthony FDJ FRA ‘ ‘
24 ULISSI Diego UAD ITA ‘ ‘
25 FARIA DA COSTA Rui UAD POR ‘ ‘
26 DOCKER Mitchell EFD AUS ‘ ‘
27 BENNETT George TLJ NZL ‘ ‘
28 IZAGUIRRE Jon TBM ESP ‘ ‘
29 MORKOV Michael QST DEN ‘ ‘
30 VON HOFF Steele AUS AUS ‘ ‘
31 BEPPU Fumiyuki TFS JPN ‘ ‘
32 BAK Lars Ytting LTS DEN ‘ ‘
33 GREIPEL Andre LTS GER ‘ ‘
34 HANSEN Adam LTS AUS ‘ ‘
35 PUCCIO Salvatore SKY ITA ‘ ‘
36 *BERNAL GOMEZ Egan Arley SKY COL ‘ ‘
37 POZZOVIVO Domenico TBM ITA ‘ ‘
38 CAPECCHI Eros QST ITA ‘ ‘
39 RENSHAW Mark DDD AUS ‘ ‘
40 *KORSAETH Truls AST NOR ‘ ‘
41 TEUNISSEN Mike SUN NED ‘ ‘
42 CANTY Brendan EFD AUS ‘ ‘
43 MORENO Daniel EFD ESP ‘ ‘
44 DIDIER Laurent TFS LUX ‘ ‘
45 *HAMILTON Chris SUN AUS ‘ ‘
46 CHEREL Mikael ALM FRA ‘ ‘
47 PORTE Richie BMC AUS ‘ ‘
48 WYSS Danilo BMC SUI ‘ ‘
49 VALGREN Michael AST DEN ‘ ‘
50 EARLE Nathan AUS AUS ‘ ‘
51 *LATOUR Pierre Roger ALM FRA ‘ ‘
52 *SOLER Marc MOV ESP ‘ ‘
53 LAMMERTINK Maurits TKA NED ‘ ‘
54 *LAWLESS Christopher SKY GBR ‘ ‘
55 FERNANDEZ Ruben MOV ESP ‘ ‘
56 *OOMEN Sam SUN NED ‘ ‘
57 PREIDLER Georg FDJ AUT ‘ ‘
58 GERRANS Simon BMC AUS ‘ ‘
59 SIEBERG Marcel LTS GER ‘ ‘
60 DENNIS Rohan BMC AUS ‘ ‘
61 *EG Niklas TFS DEN ‘ ‘
62 BARBERO CUESTA Carlos MOV ESP ‘ ‘
63 DE KORT Koen TFS NED ‘ ‘
64 BATTAGLIN Enrico TLJ ITA ‘ ‘
65 SLAGTER Tom-Jelte DDD NED ‘ ‘
66 MORI Manuele UAD ITA ‘ ‘
67 *MAS Enric QST ESP ‘ ‘
68 *O CONNOR Ben DDD AUS ‘ ‘
69 *DOULL Owain SKY GBR ‘ ‘
70 ARASHIRO Yukiya TBM JPN ‘ ‘
71 MEYER Cameron MTS AUS ‘ ‘
72 ROE Timothy AUS AUS ‘ ‘
73 *BOHLI Tom BMC SUI ‘ ‘
74 OLIVIER Daan TLJ NED ‘ ‘
75 MONTAGUTI Matteo ALM ITA ‘ ‘
76 *DAVIES Scott DDD GBR ‘ ‘
77 MORTON Lachlan DDD AUS ‘ ‘
78 GASTAUER Ben ALM LUX ‘ ‘
79 OLIVEIRA Nelson MOV POR ‘ ‘
80 SUTTERLIN Jasha MOV GER ‘ ‘
81 VANDENBERGH Stijn ALM BEL ‘ ‘
82 AGNOLI Valerio TBM ITA ‘ ‘
83 LADAGNOUS Matthieu FDJ FRA ‘ ‘
84 MACHADO Tiago TKA POR ‘ ‘
85 *MATOS Nuno MOV POR ‘ ‘
86 WISNIOWSKI Lukasz SKY POL ‘ ‘
87 KOCHETKOV Pavel TKA RUS ‘ ‘
88 *PETERS Nans ALM FRA ‘ ‘
89 BOARO Manuele TBM ITA 24″
90 *DENZ Nico ALM GER 26″
91 *PORTER Alexander AUS AUS ‘ ‘
92 *DLAMINI Nicholas DDD RSA ‘ ‘
93 ZAKHAROV Artyom AST KAZ ‘ ‘
94 WAGNER Robert TLJ GER ‘ ‘
95 DUCHESNE Antoine FDJ CAN ‘ ‘
96 CLARKE William EFD AUS ‘ ‘
97 SCULLY Thomas EFD NZL ‘ ‘
98 BONO Matteo UAD ITA ‘ ‘
99 WYNANTS Maarten TLJ BEL 31″
100 SABATINI Fabio QST ITA ‘ ‘
101 *FRAME Alex TFS NZL 34″
102 KENNAUGH Peter BOH GBR ‘ ‘
103 HAYMAN Mathew MTS AUS 38″
104 DEBUSSCHERE Jens LTS BEL 44″
105 *SENECHAL Florian QST FRA ‘ ‘
106 *SCHMIDT Mads Wurtz TKA DEN 48″
107 ARNDT Nikias SUN GER ‘ ‘
108 LEEZER Tom TLJ NED ‘ ‘
109 *OWEN Logan EFD USA 54″
110 DE VREESE Laurens AST BEL 56″
111 *SCOTSON Miles BMC AUS 01’02”
112 BODNAR Maciej BOH POL 01’04”
113 DE GENDT Thomas LTS BEL ‘ ‘
114 CIMOLAI Davide FDJ ITA ‘ ‘
115 VENTER Jaco DDD RSA ‘ ‘
116 *STORER Michael SUN AUS 01’29”
117 BAUER Jack MTS NZL ‘ ‘
118 HAGA Chad SUN USA 02’00”
119 BENNETT Sam BOH IRL 02’17”
120 *CASTRILLO ZAPATER Jaime MOV ESP 02’22”
121 FERRARI Roberto UAD ITA ‘ ‘
122 GONÇALVES Jose TKA POR 02’30”
123 *WELSFORD Sam AUS AUS 03’37”
124 *BOWDEN Scott AUS AUS ‘ ‘
125 NAVARDAUSKAS Ramunas TBM LTU ‘ ‘
126 GATTO Oscar AST ITA ‘ ‘
127 HOWSON Damien MTS AUS 04’54”
128 BEVIN Patrick BMC NZL 05’20”
129 *DIBBEN Jonathan SKY GBR 06’34”

OVERALL

1 EWAN Caleb MTS AUS 00″
2 VIVIANI Elia QST ITA 10″
3 IMPEY Daryl MTS RSA 14″
4 MCCARTHY Jay BOH AUS 15″
5 SAGAN Peter BOH SVK 16″
6 HAAS Nathan TKA AUS 17″
7 RESTREPO VALENCIA Jhonatan TKA COL 19″
8 CONSONNI Simone UAD ITA 20″
9 GESINK Robert TLJ NED ‘ ‘
10 ROUX Anthony FDJ FRA ‘ ‘
11 ULISSI Diego UAD ITA ‘ ‘
12 SANCHEZ GIL Luis Leon AST ESP ‘ ‘
13 BENNETT George TLJ NZL ‘ ‘
14 FARIA DA COSTA Rui UAD POR ‘ ‘
15 IZAGUIRRE Jon TBM ESP ‘ ‘
16 BARBERO CUESTA Carlos MOV ESP ‘ ‘
17 IZAGUIRRE Gorka TBM ESP ‘ ‘
18 BERNAL GOMEZ Egan Arley SKY COL ‘ ‘
19 DEVENYNS Dries QST BEL ‘ ‘
20 OOMEN Sam SUN NED ‘ ‘
21 CHEREL Mikael ALM FRA ‘ ‘
22 GUERREIRO Ruben TFS POR ‘ ‘
23 LATOUR Pierre Roger ALM FRA ‘ ‘
24 PREIDLER Georg FDJ AUT ‘ ‘
25 POZZOVIVO Domenico TBM ITA ‘ ‘
26 HAMILTON Chris SUN AUS ‘ ‘
27 PORTE Richie BMC AUS ‘ ‘
28 FERNANDEZ Ruben MOV ESP ‘ ‘
29 CANTY Brendan EFD AUS ‘ ‘
30 BAK Lars Ytting LTS DEN ‘ ‘
31 SLAGTER Tom-Jelte DDD NED ‘ ‘
32 EARLE Nathan AUS AUS ‘ ‘
33 SOLER Marc MOV ESP ‘ ‘
34 MORENO Daniel EFD ESP ‘ ‘
35 VALGREN Michael AST DEN ‘ ‘
36 DENNIS Rohan BMC AUS ‘ ‘
37 EG Niklas TFS DEN ‘ ‘
38 DIDIER Laurent TFS LUX ‘ ‘
39 DAVIES Scott DDD GBR ‘ ‘
40 MAS Enric QST ESP ‘ ‘
41 CAPECCHI Eros QST ITA ‘ ‘
42 ROE Timothy AUS AUS ‘ ‘
43 O CONNOR Ben DDD AUS ‘ ‘
44 MEYER Cameron MTS AUS ‘ ‘
45 MORTON Lachlan DDD AUS ‘ ‘
46 GASTAUER Ben ALM LUX ‘ ‘
47 DOULL Owain SKY GBR ‘ ‘
48 PUCCIO Salvatore SKY ITA 31″
49 HANSEN Adam LTS AUS 33″
50 TEUNISSEN Mike SUN NED 36″
51 CLARKE William EFD AUS 47″
52 BEPPU Fumiyuki TFS JPN 52″
53 GERRANS Simon BMC AUS ‘ ‘
54 MORI Manuele UAD ITA ‘ ‘
55 BOHLI Tom BMC SUI ‘ ‘
56 VANDENBERGH Stijn ALM BEL ‘ ‘
57 OLIVEIRA Nelson MOV POR ‘ ‘
58 OLIVIER Daan TLJ NED 01’00”
59 SUTTERLIN Jasha MOV GER ‘ ‘
60 ZAKHAROV Artyom AST KAZ 01’02”
61 DE KORT Koen TFS NED 01’10”
62 MACHADO Tiago TKA POR 01’14”
63 WYNANTS Maarten TLJ BEL 01’18”
64 VON HOFF Steele AUS AUS 01’23”
65 CLARKE Simon EFD AUS 01’24”
66 MATOS Nuno MOV POR ‘ ‘
67 DE VREESE Laurens AST BEL 01’29”
68 BATTAGLIN Enrico TLJ ITA 01’33”
69 SCOTSON Miles BMC AUS 01’54”
70 DEMPSTER Zakkari AUS AUS 02’06”
71 LEEZER Tom TLJ NED ‘ ‘
72 MARCATO Marco UAD ITA 02’09”
73 BONO Matteo UAD ITA 02’35”
74 WYSS Danilo BMC SUI 02’38”
75 ARNDT Nikias SUN GER 02’51”
76 SCULLY Thomas EFD NZL 02’55”
77 HAYMAN Mathew MTS AUS 02’58”
78 MORKOV Michael QST DEN 03’03”
79 ARASHIRO Yukiya TBM JPN 03’06”
80 AGNOLI Valerio TBM ITA ‘ ‘
81 LAMMERTINK Maurits TKA NED 03’23”
82 OSS Daniel BOH ITA 03’27”
83 EDMONDSON Alexander MTS AUS 03’41”
84 MONTAGUTI Matteo ALM ITA 04’06”
85 PETERS Nans ALM FRA ‘ ‘
86 KOCHETKOV Pavel TKA RUS ‘ ‘
87 BAUER Jack MTS NZL 04’26”
88 DE GENDT Thomas LTS BEL 05’10”
89 MINALI Riccardo AST ITA 05’57”
90 HAGA Chad SUN USA 06’14”
91 GONÇALVES Jose TKA POR 06’16”
92 DOCKER Mitchell EFD AUS 06’21”
93 KORSAETH Truls AST NOR ‘ ‘
94 PORTER Alexander AUS AUS 06’23”
95 BEVIN Patrick BMC NZL 06’34”
96 VENTER Jaco DDD RSA 06’39”
97 KENNAUGH Peter BOH GBR 06’45”
98 GREIPEL Andre LTS GER 07’31”
99 RENSHAW Mark DDD AUS 07’41”
100 LAWLESS Christopher SKY GBR ‘ ‘
101 GATTO Oscar AST ITA 07’43”
102 WISNIOWSKI Lukasz SKY POL 08’05”
103 DENZ Nico ALM GER 08’07”
104 SABATINI Fabio QST ITA 08’12”
105 HOWSON Damien MTS AUS 08’53”
106 STORER Michael SUN AUS 09’38”
107 SCHMIDT Mads Wurtz TKA DEN 09’39”
108 SELIG Rudiger BOH GER 10’15”
109 PEDERSEN Mads TFS DEN ‘ ‘
110 SIEBERG Marcel LTS GER ‘ ‘
111 LADAGNOUS Matthieu FDJ FRA ‘ ‘
112 DLAMINI Nicholas DDD RSA 10’34”
113 DUCHESNE Antoine FDJ CAN 10’41”
114 DEBUSSCHERE Jens LTS BEL 10’59”
115 SENECHAL Florian QST FRA 11’54”
116 OWEN Logan EFD USA 12’23”
117 CASTRILLO ZAPATER Jaime MOV ESP 12’34”
118 WAGNER Robert TLJ GER 12’54”
119 BODNAR Maciej BOH POL 14’30”
120 BAUHAUS Phil SUN GER 15’03”
121 BOARO Manuele TBM ITA 15’33”
122 FRAME Alex TFS NZL 16’11”
123 BOWDEN Scott AUS AUS 18’38”
124 BENNETT Sam BOH IRL 21’01”
125 FERRARI Roberto UAD ITA 22’08”
126 CIMOLAI Davide FDJ ITA 25’59”
127 NAVARDAUSKAS Ramunas TBM LTU 28’08”
128 WELSFORD Sam AUS AUS ‘ ‘
129 DIBBEN Jonathan SKY GBR 31’05”

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