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Three riders in the break, Saunders, Mariault and De Bod have 2:39 lead with 96km to go.
Battle for the intermediate sprint with Mariault who was sitting in third wheel, crossed the line first, followed by De Bod.
100km to go
Inside of 2km to go to the first intermediate sprint. Three riders in the break, Mariault, De Bod and Saunders, with a lead of 3:04. De Bod and Mariault are the virtual leaders on the road.
“It’s another day and we try to enjoy it today,” stage 2 winner and current GC leader Del Toro said before the start of stage 3.
“It’s a complicated stage, but to be honest, I want to stay with my team and try to do the best thing for the final with Alvaro and try to stay there safe and in a good position.”
Job done for Burns for the day. The Australian sat up, leaving three riders in the break with a 3:17 gap.
Results of second KOM:
1- Luke Burns (Australia), 3 points
2- Tristan Saunders (Australia), 2 points
3- Axel Mariault (Cofidis), 1 point
Burns jumps inside of 200 meters to go to take top points of KOM #2 followed by his teammate Saunders.
Jayco-AlUla and BORA-hansgrohe are controlling the pace and holding the gap at 2:59. We are less than 10km to the second and final KOM of the day. Will Burns and Saunders continue in the break after the Whispering Wall Climb.
BORA-hansgrohe takes over the pacemaking in the field with the gap now at 2:48 at 126km to go.
The two highest-placed riders in the breakaway are Mariault and De Bod who are both 11 seconds back from Del Toro. Burns is 4:28 down and Saunders is 5:37 in arrears.
Deep conversation between Burns and Mariault in the break. They now have 2:19 lead on the field led by Jayco-AlUla with BORA-hansgrohe behind them – once again. The team of the ochre leader’s jersey, UAE Team Emirates is sitting further back.
133km to go, and the chase group connects with the riders off the front. Four riders in the breakaway: teammate Burns and Saunders, De Bod and Mariault.
Mariault was joined by Stefan de Bod (EF Education-EasyPost) in the chase group, 20 seconds behind, with 136km to go.
139km to go
Burns and Saunders have 1:30 gap. Field is happy with the composition, and spread across the road.
Mechanical for Casper Pedersen (Soudal Quick-Step) who is calling his team car at the back of the field.
A total of 138 riders signed in for the stage today as an ailing Oliver Knight (Cofidis) did not finish the stage yesterday.
Results of first KOM:
1- Luke Burns (Australia), 5 points
2- Tristan Saunders (Australia), 3 points
3- Axel Mariault (Cofidis), 2 points
Burns and Saunders have 45-second gap with Axel Mariault of Cofidis trying to bridge up.
Burns spent most of the stage in the break yesterday and took the lead in the KOM classification. A lead he intends to defend, and he has a teammate to help him today – 100km out front, sit up, go again – Chasing Tour Down Under KOM points
Burns is joined by a teammate Tristan Saunders not even a kilometer into the stage.
And Luke Burns (Australia) makes the first attack. No response from the field.
Racing is underway for the longest stage of the Tour Down Under Stage 3 is one for the sprinters with a downhill finish. Who will be the fastest today?
As soon as the flag drops, the peloton will be climbing cat 3 Tea Tree Gully Hill, a 2.1km ascent with 6% average gradient and a ramp of 15.6%.
Stage 3 of the Tour Down Under is set to start in under 10 minutes. The 145.3km route starts in Tea Tree Gully. It tackles the first climb almost immediately before travelling into the Barossa’s eastern edge before a speedy finish down Gorge Road and into Campbelltown.
It is currently 18 C with overcast conditions with clouds forecast to clear over the day.
Stage 2 winner Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) tops the general classification with a slim 2-second lead on stage 2 runner-up Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech). Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), who finished fourth two days in a row, moved up to third overall, seven seconds in arrears.
20-year-old Del Toro also tops the best young rider classification while Girmay also leads the points classification.
Welcome to Cyclingnews’ live coverage of stage 3, from Tea Tree Gully to Campbelltown, of the Tour Down Under. The stage starts at 11:10am local time or 12:30am GMT and finishes roughly four hours later.
