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Tour Down Under: Stage 3 preview

Can Simon Gerrans secure a win at the 2017 Tour Down Under? (David Hill Photography / The Roar)
Roar Guru
19th January, 2016
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Yesterday’s hills will be in the legs of the riders as they take on the first real general classification day of the race, with the final ascent and descent of the Corkscrew Road climb set to destroy the peloton and leave only the best.

Stage 3 of the Tour Down Under starts only a stone’s throw from the water, in the town of Glenelg, and will finish in the town of Campbeltown, 140 kilometres away.

The two intermediate sprints come at 33.8 kilometres covered, in the town of McLaren Flat, the other after nearly 100 kilometres of racing, as the riders start to prepare themselves for the fast, flowing descent down Gorge Road to the foot of the final climb.

The stage does not have really any flat sections, with the road either ascending or descending gradually, but the final 15 kilometres will see the race really come alive.

The final five kilometres before the start of Corkscrew Road average out at around five per cent gradient descent, plus the technical nature of the run in means teams will look to put the hammer down to be well positioned. The seasoned veterans of this race will have seen it all before, but for the fresh-faced riders it will be a frightening experience.

The most important part of the run to the climb is the left-hand corner onto Corkscrew Road. If you are not well positioned by this point, you will have a lot of ground to make up over the next kilometre of false flat, before the final 2.5 kilometres at nine per cent is upon you.

The first kilometre of the climb is fairly straight and consistent in gradient (around seven per cent), but at the hairpin bends the gradient kicks up to 15 per cent in some sections. The final part of the climb does lighten off ever so slightly before the top of the climb and the King of the Mountains banner.

As the riders hit the crest of the final climb, they are faced with the daunting task of descending the fast and technical start of Montacute Road. At the bottom of the descent the road flattens out and becomes a lot straighter, providing potential for riders to see the groups up ahead.

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When Cadel Evans took the victory into Campbeltown in 2014, he had such a large gap that he was not seen until the long straight to the finishing line. Being able to see the riders in front helps the chasers gauge their efforts, so the final three kilometres will be crucial if a single rider is trying to hold off the field.

Three of the favourites for this stage finished inside the top five on the corresponding stage in 2014.

Nathan Haas finished second on that occasion, and will be looking to impress new team Dimension Data, where he should get more of an opportunity to lead in the bigger, hilly races. He has the ability to win a reduced sprint, but he may not be able to follow some of the other riders, including Simon Gerrans and Rohan Dennis, up the climb itself. The descent however offers a chance to make up time.

Gerrans finished fifth in 2014 on his way to winning GC at the end of the week, and after a poor National Championships performance, he will be looking to shine on this terrain.

He will need to well positioned coming into Corkscrew Road, something which he got terribly wrong in 2014, which left him having to make up ground on the early slopes of the climb. On that day, he impressively road his way across to Richie Porte, but not to a flying Evans.

If he was better positioned, he may have ridden with Evans to the line and taken the stage.

The last man I will mention is Diego Ulissi from Lampre. With form here in the past, and good climbing ability, he will be hard to dislodge if he has decent form. He can certainly stay with the top riders over the climb, but I am not sure what his descending ability is like.

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For his sake, I hope it is good, because it will be a wild ride down Montacute Road into the finish.

Other riders to look out for include Rohan Dennis and Richie Porte (BMC), Michael Albasini (Orica Orica-GreenEDGE), Simon Geschke (Giant-Alpecin), Geriant Thomas (Sky), Simon Clarke and Moreno Moser (Cannondale), Ryder Hesjedal (Trek), Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R La Mondiale), Jay McCarthy (Tinkoff), Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana), Tiago Machado and Rein Taarame (Katusha), Ruben Fernandez (Movistar), Louis Meintjes (Lampre), Cameron Meyer (Dimension Data) and Lachlan Norris (Drapac).

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