Simon Gerrans recovered from his crash at the end of yesterday's stage 2 to outsprint his rivals after today's notorious Corkscrew climb.
The three time champion was part of a group of ten that made it up the Corkscrew first, and as they rounded the final 90 degree right hander with around 600m to go, it was Richie Porte in the lead by a few bike lengths.
Porte was swamped by the best sprint efforts of his teammate Rohan Dennis, Michael Woods (CPT) and overnight leader Jay McCarthy (TNK), but Simon Gerrans had just enough left to pip them all over the line to take the overall lead.
Astana's Laurens de Vreese attacked as the flag waved at the start of the stage, and nobody else fancied going with him, leaving the Belgian to toil alone in the heat for a largely quiet day, more than made up for by the late-race battles.
His solo attack turned the intermediate sprints in formalities as far as the wins were concerned, but there were enough bonus seconds to grab the ochre jersey's attention, although he couldn't beat Juan Lobato del Valle to second, having to settle for third, and one bonus second.
He was again third in the second sprint, as Caleb Ewan took another handful of sprint points to strengthen his grip on the red sprinter's jersey, both a couple of minutes behind de Vreese.
The Astana rider was finally reeled in some 20km from the finish, just before a crash on a tight corner left Tyler Farrar sprawled upside down on the hillside along with five others, although all remounted to finish the stage several minutes down.
As the peloton reached the Corkscrew climb, Tinkoff began working for their race leader McCarthy, but it was not plain sailing for the ochre jersey, as a group of Richie Porte, Simon Gerrans and Domenico Pozzovivo, before the lead was taken over by Sky's Sergio Henao and Michael Woods of Cannondale.
It was Henao and Woods who contested the summit, and Henao managed to keep the Canadian, in his first WorldTour race, behind him over the top to claim the King of the Mountains spoils.
They attempted to keep clear, but they were brought back into the group of ten on the descent, along with McCarthy, Porte, Gerrans, Pozzovivo, Steve Morabito (FDJ), Rafael Valls Ferri (LTS), Ruben Fernandez Andujar (MOV) and reigning champion Rohan Dennis (BMC).
Porte made the first bid for victory, leading round the final corner from Pozzovivo and Henao, but in the scramble for the line he finished last of the group. It was his teammate Dennis who looked on course for the win, only for Gerrans to beat him by the smallest of margins, his first win in 16 months after a torrid 2015.
The impressive Michael Woods took third, narrowly beating Jay McCarthy, taking the four bonus seconds that would have kept the Tinkoff rider in the overall lead, although small consolation will be that he takes the lead in the sprint classification.
tourdownunder.com.au
Stage winner Simon Gerrans (OGE):
"It was super tough coming up the Corkscrew, there's some really good climbers in the race so I really had to time my effort well.
"I was a little bit stiff from the fall yesterday so I wasn't able to score any seconds in the sprints, I let the second one go to save some energy for the final, and it was worthwhile."
Stage results
1. Simon Gerrans (OGE) 3:37:342. Rohan Dennis (BMC) + :00
3. Michael Woods (CPT) + :00
General Classification
1. Simon Gerrans (OGE) 10:28:12
2. Jay McCarthy (TNK) + :03
3. Rohan Dennis (BMC) + :05
4. Michael Woods (CPT) + :11
5. Sergio Henao (SKY) + :15
6. Rafael Valls Ferri (LTS) + :15
7. Ruben Fernandez Andujar (MOV) + :15
8. Steve Morabito (FDJ) + :15
9. Domenico Pozzovivo (ALM) + :15
10. Richie Porte (BMC) + :15
King of the Mountains Classification
1. Sergio Henao (SKY) 16
2. Michael Woods (CPT) 12
3. Manuele Boaro (TNK) 10
Sprint Classification
1. Jay McCarthy (TNK) 31
2. Rohan Dennis (BMC) 27
3. Simon Gerrans (OGE) 23
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