The expected explosion of the overall standings on stage 3 of the Santos Tour Down Under ended up looking more like a gentle whittling down of the ranks as while the gaps have started to open, they are still small enough that plenty hope the Willunga Hill climb on stage 5 could deliver a chance to turn it around. The home team, Jayco-AlUla, who always put a massive target on the six-stage WorldTour race, is among them.
Javier Romo (Movistar) stepped into the race leader's ochre jersey after launching an attack from a select leading group and while his rivals may have tried to jump out front and join him, none succeeded. Luke Plapp and Chris Harper, who were both among the attackers, ended up finishing 11th and 16th in the main group just five seconds behind the solo winner.
"I would have loved to have won the stage today," Jayco-AlUla sports director Matt Hayman told reporters as they gathered around the team car after the stage finish in Uraidla. "We wanted to make as much difference as possible and we wanted to have numbers and use those numbers in the final and I think it was a tick for all of those, except the result."
With time bonuses taken into account, the duo from the Australian team sit 15 seconds back on the GC leader, among a list of riders on the same time who fill sixth to 18th place. Bonus seconds meant stage runner-up Jhonatan Narváez (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) sits in second overall at 8 seconds while Patrick Konrad (Lidl-Trek) and Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) are 10 seconds down.
Given that today’s stage wasn’t as selective as expected and that the weather is not anticipated to be as big an obstacle as it could have been for Saturday – with a forecast for gentle to moderate winds and mild temperatures in Victor Harbor on Friday – there are questions over whether stage 4 will pull out gaps as it did in 2023. That means attention is already turning to the riders who have now revealed that they may have the form to make a difference on the next and final big climbing day on Saturday.
"Me and Harps were super strong on that final climb," said Plapp in an interview on a team social media post.
"We gave it a crack, but look we are on bunch time and we’ve got through the three most stressful days and now it’s a showdown on Willunga."
On stage 5 the riders will ascend the iconic climb of Willunga twice, but there is also another earlier climb, Wickhams Hill to amp up the challenge. The gaps on Willunga in the last edition weren’t huge, with 20 seconds covering the top 10, though then there was another GC day to come straight after. This time Willunga Hill is followed by a sprinters stage for the tour finale, so there is every reason to race aggressively.
There is also a ten-second time bonus for the winner at the top, so even a five-second advantage on race leader Romo could be enough to put the current top 18 riders overall on the same time or for some, even ahead of the ochre-clad rider. Still, for others like defending champion Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) who had a crash on stage 3, it may well be a jump too far given his 35-second deficit at the end of the third day of racing.
"Coming into this stage, we knew that there was an opportunity for a lot of GC guys to have a mishap and lose their chances," concluded Hayman. "And while we didn't gain any time, we're still in a good position."
