CYCLING

Bevin talks Tour Down Under - Stage 3

By Aaron S. Lee

Caleb Ewan was simply too fast for reigning two-time world champion Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) in the stage 3 sprint finish at Victor Harbor. The 22-year-old Australian picked up his second stage win of the Santos Tour Down Under, after already having claimed the opener just two days after winning the People’s Choice Classic for the second straight year.

“I lost a few of my team-mates in the downhill and it was a messy sprint,” said Ewan. “Luke Durbridge took me back to the front with 3 or 4km to go and he positioned me perfectly in the end. I was jumping around the wheels and I'm delighted I made it again.”

After the stage, Sagan admitted his form is not on par with Ewan at the moment.

“My legs are not bad (but) I am still not in the best shape and for that I am happy because the season is very long,” said Sagan. “You have to be positive and we still have time to get into the good shape. 

“Caleb? He is riding at home and he was all (European) winter in Australia and he was training in good weather,” explained Sagan who resumed training in December after a month off the bike for his annual holiday. 

“I am happy with how I am racing now, and he (Ewan) is motivated to be racing here at home,” said Sagan. “He is winning a lot, because he is the best here.”

While there are no changes in general classification (GC) with stage 2 winner Richie Porte (BMC Racing) still holding a 20-second lead, a crash near the finish split the field and cost a handful of hopefuls valuable time, including Cannondale-Drapac’s Michael Woods. The 30-year-old Canadian had two podium finishes last year en route to a fifth place on GC, and was considered one of the pre-race favourites this week.

NZ Bike caught up with Woods’ teammate Patrick Bevin (NZL) to get his take on the day and discuss the plan moving forward.
 

Bevin’s diary entry: Stage 3 – Glenelg – Victor Harbor, 144km
Victor Harbor is beautiful. We finished here last year, and it’s actually a cool course. No matter where you go at the Tour Down Under, we are so well received come race day. It’s a beautiful part of the world and the people really get behind it.

The mood coming into stage 3 was good. We knew the finish, but we also knew we were going to have our work cut out for us.

In the end, Mike Woods (+0:33) lost four seconds in the finish with me. At the end of the day, what we didn’t want to happen – happened. Really it was out of our control.

There was a big crash coming down the final with a sharp corner with 2km to go and we came off a big wide road and there was crash in the middle of the road that split the whole team.

I was unclipped and missed a gentleman’s head by 10cm, so I was very lucky. I thought I was going down for sure with the way the crash was unfolding, but at the last minute I snuck through.

It wasn’t catastrophic, as we didn’t have anyone go down, but to lose any time today kind of compounds a frustrating day yesterday.

So it’s hard to be super positive about it, but that’s bike racing.

While I’m very happy to have stayed upright, I would have preferred not to hemorrhage more time. Not ideal in a tour won by seconds. If there’s a big group on bunch time yesterday, and Willunga Hill is not going to provide huge gaps, you can’t afford to lose any time. You have got to be on the right side of those splits, so it’s a tough one to swallow.

At the end of the day, we missed the split and most of the guys on GC did not. We have to wear that one. It’s more disappointing than a day like yesterday. It’s more about executing a plan and despite the crash you have to be ready on the fly to put it all back together and we didn’t adjust quickly enough.
So four seconds lost.

Moving forward, nothing changes for us. We brush it off. Mike wasn’t the only GC guy to lose time.
Stage 4 has some opportunities for guys to race their bikes. It’s a tough course with smaller roads. It’s going to be stressful and hot. So you know it’s going to be a tough day, and then obviously we have Willunga on Saturday where we will be racing for a stage win and a move up on GC.
Until next time, stay tuned…-Patrick Bevin

Tomorrow’s entry: Stage 4: Norwood – Campbelltown – 149.5km

Stage 3 results (top 5)
1.    Caleb Ewan, AUS, Orica-Scott, 3:24:45
2.    Peter Sagan, SVK, Bora-Mangrove, and +0:00
3.    Niccolo Bonifazio, ITA, Bahrain-Merida, +0:00
4.    Danny van Poppel, NED, Team Sky, +0:00
5.    Edward Theuns, BEL, Trek-Segafredo, +0:00
 
General classification (top 5)
1.    Richie Porte, AUS, BMC Racing, 7:10:14
2.    Gorka Izagirre, ESP, Movistar, +0:20
3.    Esteban Chaves, COL, Orica-Scott, +0:22
4.    Jay McCarthy, AUS, Bora-Hansgrohe, +0:24
5.    Nathan Haas, AUS, Dimension Data, +0:27