Sagan closes in on lead with stage win

Triple world champion Peter Sagan held off former race winners Luis Leon Sanchez and Daryl Impey to win stage three and close in on the overall lead of Australia’s Tour Down Under yesterday. The Slovak Bora-Hansgrohe sprint superstar repeated his victory in last year’s corresponding stage in Uraidla, edging out Spain’s Sanchez on the line in the 146.2-kilometre (90- mile) leg through the Adelaide Hills in South Australia.

Sagan, who won consecutive world road race championships from 2015 to 2017, closed to within one point of overall tour leader Patrick Bevin of New Zealand. Sagan said his experience racing on the same roads last year helped him in the closing stages. “I won by a little bit but I won and I am very happy with that,” he said. “On the last climb, I said, ‘It’s going to be the same as last year again.’ In the end it was like copy paper.

“My Bora-Hansgrohe team worked hard to keep me on the front and take care of me. In the end I had a lot of energy for the last lap and it was really under control.” Sanchez is in third place overall a further nine seconds behind, with Australia’s Michael Storer fourth (10 seconds) and defending champion Impey fifth (11 seconds). It was a punishing stage with temperatures around 35C (95F) and riders having to negotiate six undulating circuits, including six tilts up the sapping Spring Gully Road and the up-and-down twists and turns rising towards the finish at Uraidla.

In an eventful stage there were a few attacks late on, but Sagan benefited from the small bunch grouping together in the final kilometre. Sagan also took over the sprint leader’s jersey by two points from Italy’s Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) and Bevin. Australia’s Jason Lea (UniSA-Australia) retained the King of the Mountain jersey after stage three from Italy’s Manuele Boaro (Astana Pro Team) and Kazakstan’s Artyom Zakharov (Astana).