Tour Down Under: Stage 3 live updates
Roar Guru By TheSportsFreak, 19 Jan 2012 TheSportsFreak is a Roar Guru & Live Blogger
- Tagged:
- Cycling, live blog, Martin Kohler, Simon Gerrans, Tour Down Under, William Clarke
Related coverage
Welcome along to coverage of Stage 3 of the Tour Down Under. Today we start just outside of Adelaide city – Unley, in a 134.5km race.
There’s a 9.5km neutral stage, which is then followed by the official start in Bedford Park. The Tour then rides all the way through to Victor Harbor.
Stage 3 includes 2 Jayco Sprints (Mt Compass 65km and Goolwa 89.4km) and a Category 2 climb in the ŠKODA King of the Mountains (Sellicks Hill 42.9km).
Conditions are warm but not the heat and wind of the first stage. Unley’s max temp is meant to hit around 31C, with a breeze around 10km/hr.
Yesterday was an amazing day for 26-year-old William Clarke. The UniSA Australia rider was the last man picked for the TdU, but decided to take up the pace with BMC rider Martin Kohler after just 1km of racing. While Kohler went for the sprints to steal the leader’s Ochre jersey, Clarke decided to go for glory.
He left Kohler behind after the second sprint point to get the lead out to as much as 12:15. Despite a late charge from the peloton, the Tasmanian took the stage win.
We saw a bit of action late from GreenEDGE led by Simon Gerrans, but it was in vain. We’ve seen how important the sprint points have been so far with the time bonuses they provide, maybe Gerrans will be pushing hard at Mt Compass and Goolwa.
Martin Kohler’s lead is only two seconds. In fact, the top 64 riders are seperated by only 12 seconds, so expect some fireworks today.
Don’t forget, any questions, thoughts or comments – send them through. We’ll do our best to keep you up to date.
We’ll start live blogging on Stage 3 of the SANTOS Tour Down Under from 1130 AEDST (1100 SA Time)
The Roar have special SKODA prize packs to award to Roar of the Crowd writers who send us their thoughts on cycling. Each month we're giving away a prize pack, and at the end you could win a SKODA road bike. Simply submit an article to The Roar and you could win! More details here.
- Explore:
- Cycling, live blog, Martin Kohler, Simon Gerrans, Tour Down Under, William Clarke
January 19th 2012 @ 11:26am
Tristan Rayner said | January 19th 2012 @ 11:26am | Report comment
Before the riders head off for Victor Harbor, Andre Greipel spoke with the TDU Official site. He is currently second on the GC at 0:02.
“I think everybody felt a bit tired from the heat from the first stage but it is important to just stay in the bunch. Of course the bunch was going very fast, but in the end we didn’t catch the breakaway.
[Will Clarke] did a good job there, he was pretty strong so hats off for him. We will see how the race will develop but we need to call on other teams for a bunch sprint.”
January 19th 2012 @ 11:27am
thesportsfreak said | January 19th 2012 @ 11:27am | Report comment
We’re just about to kick off in Unley for the 11th time in the Tour Down Under. Very good morning.
We’ve got 9.5km of nothingness before the ridgy-didge cycling gets underway in Bedford Park
January 19th 2012 @ 11:27am
Tristan Rayner said | January 19th 2012 @ 11:27am | Report comment
Conditions are forecast for a much cooler 23C, but it’s always warmer on the road.
January 19th 2012 @ 11:28am
Tristan Rayner said | January 19th 2012 @ 11:28am | Report comment
Looking forward to the coverage, thesportsfreak
January 19th 2012 @ 11:32am
thesportsfreak said | January 19th 2012 @ 11:32am | Report comment
Martin Kohler is the Ochre jersey wearer after gaining some bonus seconds from the sprints yesterday to just get ahead of Andre Greipel.
As TdU boss Mike Turtur drops the red flag to get them underway… sort of.
January 19th 2012 @ 11:36am
thesportsfreak said | January 19th 2012 @ 11:36am | Report comment
It’s the same course that was used in 2008 – that was won by Aussie Allan Davis. We’re hoping for another Aussie win today. Will it come from GreenEDGE? Can Will Clarke recover from yesterday’s Herculean effort to get up near the front runners throughout the race?
January 19th 2012 @ 11:38am
thesportsfreak said | January 19th 2012 @ 11:38am | Report comment
While we wait for the race to begin in earnest, have a read of Adrian Musolino’s unique view of yesterday’s Stage 2… from one of the TdU race cars! http://www.theroar.com.au/2012/01/19/a-day-on-the-road-with-cyclings-pro-tour/
January 19th 2012 @ 11:51am
thesportsfreak said | January 19th 2012 @ 11:51am | Report comment
We’re just a couple minutes away from the actual race getting underway. That will start the 134.5km trip which includes a Category 2 climb up Sellicks Hill, followed by two sprint points before they get to Victor Harbor
January 19th 2012 @ 11:55am
thesportsfreak said | January 19th 2012 @ 11:55am | Report comment
And they cross the start line. Off we go! Very intriguing to see who goes on the attack early. With it being so close up the top, sprint bonus seconds will be massive later in the day.
January 19th 2012 @ 11:56am
thesportsfreak said | January 19th 2012 @ 11:56am | Report comment
According to one or two reports, the race organisers had to warn the riders about… taking the call of nature in public.