During the 145 kilometer long third stage of Tour Down Under between Norwood and Campbelltown, Tinkoff-Saxo constantly kept leader, Rory Sutherland in the front part of the bunch where Orica-GreenEdge were maintaining a steady pace.
In the hilly finale, Cadel Evans (BMC) and Richie Porte 8Sky) worked up a small gap ahead of a chase group including Tinkoff-Saxo’s Rory Sutherland. On the final meters of the stage, Evans managed to drop his companion to take the stage win while Sutherland crossed the finish line in 6th position and is now 9th overall.
“The guys supported Rory all the way to the finale where he took matters into his own hands and finished just behind Evans in a small chase group. Alsp our Danish debutant, Michael Valgren, did an impressive job finishing shortly after Rory after delivering a great set-up for his teammate,” says DS Fabrizio Guidi.
Tinkoff-Saxo Danish debutant, Michael Valgren states:
“We worked really hard together to keep Rory out of trouble and it was really cool to see people be as committed as we were changing our plans midway and people were 100% ready to sacrifice themselves out there. I felt much stronger today and it’s nice to feel progress after a rough start. It’s my first World Tour race and it’s great to run alongside riders like Cadel Evans, Richie Porte, Jens Voigt and others I look up to. But the main thing is that we keep focused and I’m really impressed with the professionalism within the team. ”
Cadel Evans (BMC) now leads the race overall.
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