Movistar’s Javier Romo’s maiden WorldTour victory surprised the favourites at the Santos Tour Down Under at the Uraidla finish line on Thursday.
After a series of non-stop attacks and counter attacks in the final 10km of the stage the 26-year-old Spaniard went solo. He held off the advancing bunch and went on to power to a smartly planned victory. A thriller of a stage and new to the TDU, Stage 3 included the challenging Knotts Hill climb which peaks at 13%.
“I’m very happy, this morning I cannot imagine this day but I worked hard from September for this race,’’ Romo said.
“My team had a lot of confidence in me, and they worked very well to help me. The position today was very important and in the final (to the finish line) I had very good legs and everything was perfect.”
Romo’s solo attack to the finish line saw him wrestle the Santos ochre leader’s jersey from Australian sprint king Sam Welsford.
The West Australian road and track star owned the leader’s jersey for the first two stages but kept hold of the sprint jersey ahead of Friday’s Hahn Stage 4, Glenelg to Victor Harbor.
UAE Team Emirates – XRG’s Jhonatan Narvaez finished third ahead of Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull – BORA – Hansgrohe) across the finish line at Uraidla.
TDU Stage 3 & GC Results
Ride On Magazine are in Adelaide for the duration of Australia’s greatest cycling race – follow our updates on the website and Bicycle Network socials each day.