Thursday 24 January 2013 13:54, UK
Geraint Thomas dug deep to retain the overall lead at the Tour Down Under as Tom Jelte Slagter took the win on stage three.
The riders faced 139km in the heat as they left Unley for what many were describing as the toughest test of the race, with six laps of a heavy stage around Stirling on the agenda. The first job of the day for Team Sky was to control a surging peloton as the stage got under way, the race heading up the steep Mount Barker Road to the first categorised climb. A group of 23 riders broke clear early on, but it was a two-man break of namesakes William Clarke (Argos-Shimano) and Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEDGE) who went clear. Thomas and Team Sky were alert at the first sprint point in Heathfield as Thomas nipped out to take third place and a single second to add to his race lead. With the gap spinning out to three minutes 25 seconds, Team Sky set about pegging the duo back, with Bernhard Eisel again grinding away on the front for the third day running, before the rest of the team took up the baton. With 50km to go the race received a shake-up, as numerous attacks tried to fire clear from the peloton, forcing Team Sky to re-double their efforts. With help finally arriving from Lotto-Belisol a dangerous late move from Tiago Machado (RadioShack-Leopard) was snuffed out, but at the line it was Slagter who claimed a breakthrough victory. Slagter said: "It's incredible, I can't believe it. I saw on the screen that I was the first one. I thought they were coming, but I was the strongest. It is incredible."
