The 21-year-old produced a strong sprint to make an important jump on the general classification.

Separated by just four kilometers, Tea Tree Gully and Campbelltown were the start and respectively finish location of Thursday’s stage 3, which at 145.6 kilometers, was the longest of this edition. For the first time this week, the breakaway comprised four riders, but with the peloton keeping them on a tight leash the entire time, their chances of pulling off a surprise were inexistent.

Once they were brought back, the sprinters’ teams began jostling for position while trying to keep things together on the rolling final kilometers. Julian Alaphilippe took center stage again in the run-in to Campbelltown, guiding the team and helping countryman Antoine Huby move to the front going under the flamme rouge.

The 21-year-old French neo-pro impressed with his turn of speed at the end of the stage won by Sam Welsford (Bora-hansgrohe) and came close to a maiden top 10 at World Tour level, concluding the day in 11th place. Ahead of what should be the sprinters’ last opportunity, Antoine gained seven positions in the general classification, where he now sits in 17th, just six seconds off the podium.

“The finale was hectic, with that tricky descent where we decided to play it safe and the fast run-in to the line. It’s a good thing that our riders weren’t involved in that crash, and we hope that all the guys who went down there are ok and can continue the race. We are really motivated to get something nice out of this race and we’ll keep doing our best in the remaining stages”, said Soudal Quick-Step sports director Geert Van Bondt.

 

Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images

Race details

1 Sam Welsford
BORA - hansgrohe
3:20:42
2 Elia Viviani
INEOS Grenadiers
0:00
3 Daniel McLay
0:00
4 Laurence Pithie
Groupama - FDJ
0:00
5 Max Kanter
Astana Qazaqstan Team
0:00
6 Caleb Ewan
Team Jayco AlUla
0:00
7 Álvaro José Hodeg Chagüi
UAE Team Emirates
0:00
8 Biniam Girmay Hailu
Intermarché - Wanty
0:00
9 Jhonatan Narváez Prado
INEOS Grenadiers
0:00
10 Emīls Liepiņš
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:00
11 Antoine Huby
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
19 Casper Pedersen
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
30 Julian Alaphilippe
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
70 Gil Gelders
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
92 Pieter Serry
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
110 James Knox
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
120 Josef Černý
Soudal Quick-Step
0:23
1 Isaac del Toro Romero
UAE Team Emirates
10:16:04
2 Corbin Strong
Israel - Premier Tech
0:02
3 Axel Mariault
Cofidis
0:05
4 Biniam Girmay Hailu
Intermarché - Wanty
0:07
5 Stephen Williams
Israel - Premier Tech
0:07
6 Stefan de Bod
EF Education - EasyPost
0:07
7 Georg Zimmermann
Intermarché - Wanty
0:08
8 Finn Fisher-Black
UAE Team Emirates
0:08
9 Louis Barré
0:09
10 Caleb Ewan
Team Jayco AlUla
0:10
17 Antoine Huby
Soudal Quick-Step
0:11
44 Julian Alaphilippe
Soudal Quick-Step
0:11
71 James Knox
Soudal Quick-Step
0:36
80 Casper Pedersen
Soudal Quick-Step
1:10
96 Gil Gelders
Soudal Quick-Step
2:35
100 Pieter Serry
Soudal Quick-Step
3:03
122 Josef Černý
Soudal Quick-Step
7:38
1 Sam Welsford
BORA - hansgrohe
60 pt
2 Biniam Girmay Hailu
Intermarché - Wanty
52 pt
3 Caleb Ewan
Team Jayco AlUla
52 pt
4 Max Kanter
Astana Qazaqstan Team
41 pt
5 Corbin Strong
Israel - Premier Tech
39 pt
6 Isaac del Toro Romero
UAE Team Emirates
31 pt
7 Jhonatan Narváez Prado
INEOS Grenadiers
27 pt
8 Phil Bauhaus
Bahrain - Victorious
27 pt
9 Laurence Pithie
Groupama - FDJ
26 pt
10 Elia Viviani
INEOS Grenadiers
25 pt
23 Antoine Huby
Soudal Quick-Step
5 pt
1 Luke Burns
Australia
31 pt
2 Jardi Christiaan van der Lee
EF Education - EasyPost
17 pt
3 Tristan Saunders
Australia
8 pt
4 Louis Barré
6 pt
5 Axel Mariault
Cofidis
5 pt
6 Georg Zimmermann
Intermarché - Wanty
4 pt
7 Michael Hepburn
Team Jayco AlUla
4 pt
8 Álvaro José Hodeg Chagüi
UAE Team Emirates
3 pt
9 Tobias Bayer
Alpecin - Deceuninck
1 pt
10 Bart Lemmen
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
1 pt
1 Isaac del Toro Romero
UAE Team Emirates
10:16:04
2 Laurence Pithie
Groupama - FDJ
0:11
3 Bastien Tronchon
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team
0:11
4 Mathias Vacek
Lidl - Trek
0:11
5 Oscar Onley
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:11
6 António Morgado
UAE Team Emirates
0:11
7 Gianmarco Garofoli
Astana Qazaqstan Team
0:11
8 Enzo Paleni
Groupama - FDJ
0:11
9 Declan Trezise
Australia
0:36
10 Joshua Tarling
INEOS Grenadiers
1:09
14 Gil Gelders
Soudal Quick-Step
2:35
1 Intermarché - Wanty 30:48:45
2 Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team 0:00
3 Soudal Quick-Step 0:00
4 BORA - hansgrohe 0:00
5 Movistar Team 0:00
6 UAE Team Emirates 0:00
7 Cofidis 0:00
8 Team Visma | Lease a Bike 0:00
9 Israel - Premier Tech 0:00
10 INEOS Grenadiers 0:00

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