Richie Porte takes Tour Down Under overall lead with stage 3 win

Richie Porte conquered a brutal uphill finish Thursday to claim the third stage and the race leader’s jersey in the Tour Down Under.

Porte made the decisive move to power up the torturous hill climb to the Paracombe finish in the fire-ravaged Adelaide Hills and win the stage by a commanding five seconds.

Rob Powers (Team Sunweb) just held out Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) for second, with Rohan Dennis (Team Ineos) fourth.

Daryl Impey, chasing a third straight TDU title for Mitchelton-Scott, finished sixth to lie six seconds behind Porte in the general classification with three stages left to Sunday’s finish.

“Hats off to the boys,” Porte said. “They did a really good job in controlling it.

“I felt good at the bottom of the climb and got a bit of a gap there. It was just a shame there was such a headwind in the final bit, because we could have really done some damage.”

It was a lung-busting surge by Porte up the 1.7-kilometre final ascent, leaving his rivals trailing in his wake.

Impey will need to win time bonuses in the remaining stages for a third straight title.

“It was always going to be a challenge getting close to the guys up here, but to finish in that group at the end, I was pretty chuffed,” Impey said.

“I think we’re in a great situation. Obviously we’d like to be in the (leader’s) jersey, but there’s still lots of bonuses to come and lots of opportunities in the race.”

It was a courageous effort by Yates to get on to the stage podium after crashing heavily and injuring his left knee in Wednesday’s second stage and he occupies fourth spot overall, 11 seconds behind Porte.

“It was alright,” Yates said. “It was a little bit stiff in the morning but once we got into it, it started getting better and better.”

Tour Down Under 2020 – stage 3 results (Unley – Paracombe):

Tour Down Under 2020 – general classification after stage 3: