Javier Romo (Movistar) wins stage 3(Image credit: Getty Images)
Albert Withen Philipsen (Lidl-Trek) takes over best young rider jersey(Image credit: Getty Images)
Albert Withen Philipsen (Lidl-Trek) finished fourth on the stage(Image credit: Getty Images)
Field sprint for second place (Image credit: Getty Images)
Movistar's Javier Romo takes a quick look behind before celebrating his win(Image credit: Getty Images)
Javier Romo (Movistar) keeps an eye on the attack of Remy Rochas (Groupama FDJ)(Image credit: Getty Images)
Luke Plapp (Jayco Alula) attacks the reduced group(Image credit: Getty Images)
Teams organizing at the front for the final climb up Knotts Hill(Image credit: Getty Images)
Peloton raced from Norwood to Uraidla on stage 3(Image credit: Getty Images)
UAE Team Emirates XRG set the pace at the front of the peloton for most of the stage(Image credit: Getty Images)
Geoffrey Bouchard (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Fergus Browning (ARA Australia) in the break(Image credit: Getty Images)
Ben Swift (ineos Grenadiers) made a short-lived attack early on stage 3(Image credit: Getty Images)
137-rider field lined up for the start in Norwood(Image credit: Getty Images)
Javier Romo (Movistar) surprised the pre-race favourites with a late attack in the final kilometres to win stage 3 of the Tour Down Under in Uraidla. He held off his rivals to cross the line with a five-second lead and enough time to celebrate his victory.
Romo stayed in the reduced peloton, letting the other teams cover moves the second time up Knotts Hill, and then countered with a massive acceleration after they crested inside of six kilometres to go. A moment of hesitation by the 20-rider group was enough for the Spanish rider to get a gap as he flew down to the finish line.
Behind, first Chris Harper (Jayco-AlUla) and Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL) each tried to catch Romo solo but their respective moves were shut down as the small group sped to the finish line. With five riders still in the group, all eyes were on the Lidl-Trek team to chase Romo down but the group could not get organized and switched their focus on the upcoming sprint for second and third, and those all-important bonus seconds.
Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla) led out the sprint but was swamped in the field sprint. Jhonathan Narvaez (UAE Team Emirates XRG) secured second by a bike throw ahead of Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) who was third. Albert Withen Philipsen (Lidl-Trek) took fourth.
This victory, the first UCI win in his career, is "so important" for Romo who trained with this race in mind this winter.
"From this winter, I worked a lot thinking about Tour Down Under and I can imagine this day. I'm so happy, I want to say thank you to my team because today, their work is very good for me. They have a lot of confidence in me, and this victory is so important - also for my family, my girlfriend and all the people who helped me this year," the 26-year old said.
"Until after the last kilometre, I knew that the victory was mine."
Fisher-Black was solo in the front group and was hoping other teams with bigger numbers would lead the chase to bring Romo back.
"I went to the back of the group, just after these rollers, and I saw five Trek guys and those two guys up the road. I wasn't sure what the tactics were there. I was hoping they had pulled them back on this downhill into the finish, but in the end, I think it was Jayco chasing him back. So yeah, maybe controversial tactics there. But it is what it is," Fisher-Black said.
"In the end, we had to sprint for a second. And I think I was third on the line - I'm happy with that."
Defending champion Stevie Williams (Israel-PremierTech) crashed in the feed zone with 61 kilometres to go and lost touch in the final climb, finishing 25 seconds behind the stage winner. The team confirmed that he had sustained some contusions but no majo injuries.
Romo takes over the ochre leader's jersey with eight seconds on Narvaez. Patrick Konrad (Lidl-Trek) is third, and Fisher-Black fourth, both tied at 10 seconds.
In seventh place overall, Philipsen is 15 seconds down and takes the lead in the best young rider classification.
Fergus Browning (ARA Australia) once again nabbed KOM points while in the break to increase his ever growing lead in the mountains classification. Overnight race leader and double stage winner Sam Welsford (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) leads the points classification.
How it unfolded
The 147.5km stage to Uraidla was most certainly a day for the climbers - and even more certainly not for race leader Sam Welsford (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe). The first breakaway was formed when sprint lead-out man Dries De Pooter (Intermarché-Wanty) launched from the first kilometre. He was soon joined by fast man Ben Swift (Ineos Grenadiers), mountains classification leader Fergus Browning (ARA Australian National Team) and Geoffey Bouchard (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale).
However, the first climb also started not long after the flag drop, and a counter-attack led by Ide Schelling (XDS Astana) created a surge in pace, and the quartet were soon caught.
Before the summit, Swift's cousin and teammate Connor Swift launched a move and Browning, keen to take more points toward his polka dot jersey, latched on and the peloton were then satisfied that the breakaway would not threaten the GC men.
Browning swept up the maximum points on Norton Summit as the pair had 1:30 on the bunch. Then, with the road still tilting upwards after the KOM, Swift sat up and left Browning off the front alone wondering if he should push on or sit up. He kept riding tempo and pulled out a gap of more than two minutes.
After 27km of racing, Bouchard attacked from the peloton and attempted to bridge across to Browning, and made it well before the intermediate sprint at kilometre 39.1.
With a kilometre to go before the sprint, Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech) attacked from the peloton to successfully steal the final bonus seconds just in case any of the rivals of his team leader Williams tried to snatch one.
Browning and Bouchard collaborated to pull out a lead of 3:33 with 75km to go. Without a little effort from Jayco-AlUla's Luke Durbridge, the peloton carved a minute off that gap over the next five kilometres.
The gap was down below two minutes when defending champion Stevie Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) was caught up in a crash in the feed zone with 61km to go. But a quick scramble from the team brought the Briton back into the fold a few kilometres later.
Williams didn't have time to recover, because UAE Team Emirates and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe started drilling the pace at the front with 53km to go to get their leaders in a safe position for the technical descent leading into the first climb of Knotts Hill.
Browning further extended his lead in the mountains classification as the pair's advantage was still touching a minute as the young Australian claimed the maximum points. But his compatriots on the Jayco-AlUla team were on the chase behind, slowly clawing back the gap.
Bouchard claimed the three bonus seconds ahead of Browning at the intermediate sprint with 35.2km to go, and half a minute behind a full on sprint from Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe led Finn Fisher-Black to the final bonus second.
Attacks flew after the sprint, with Juan Pedro Lopez (Lidl-Trek) attacking twice but was each time marked by Groupama-FDJ's Lewis Askey. The peloton didn't let anyone go, but the pace was enough for the pair to be in sight with 27.4 to go. Browning sat up, but Bouchard continued on for another 2km.
There was a lull in the action until the long, gradual uncategorised climb leading into the last ascent of Knotts Hill, where another surge for positioning sparked a crash mid-peloton with 14.5km to go. Martín Lopez (XDS Astana) was the worst off, his team confirming that he had to abandon the race and was taken to hospital for medical checks.
Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech) won the battle for the lead of the bunch on the fast descent heading into Knotts Hill, but Ineos Grenadiers assumed control of the reduced peloton before the climb.
Michał Kwiatkowski made his move with 7.4km to go and 1.8 to the summit, and he was closely marked by Groupama-FDJ's Remy Rochas, but Jayco-AlUla shut that down. Afonso Eulalio (Bahrain Victorious) was the next to go 600 metres later.
The attacks severely reduced the size of the leading group but a counterattack from Jay Vine inspired Rochas to put in another dangerous dig that shot defending champ Williams out the back.
Javier Romo (Movistar) was the next rider to go after Rochas was reeled in after the summit. Another surge came from Ineos then an attack from Jayco-AlUla's Chris Harper. When Harper was caught, Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNl) went clear, but still Romo powered on.
Jayco-AlUla led the charge to reel Onley back with less that 1000 metres to go and prepared for the reduced field sprint.
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Laura Weislo has been with Cyclingnews since 2006 after making a switch from a career in science. As Managing Editor, she coordinates coverage for North American events and global news. As former elite-level road racer who dabbled in cyclo-cross and track, Laura has a passion for all three disciplines. When not working she likes to go camping and explore lesser traveled roads, paths and gravel tracks. Laura specialises in covering doping, anti-doping, UCI governance and performing data analysis.
