Welsford lands stage 3 sprint as Ineos time leadout to perfection at Tour Down Under

Stage 3 was a new addition to the Tour Down Under route, running 140.8km from Henley Beach to Nairne. The profile offered more climbing than a typical sprint day left one question hanging for most of the afternoon: would the pure sprinters still be there at the end?

The break of the day formed early. Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ United) went clear with Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto-Intermarché) and KOM leader Martin Urianstad (Uno-X Mobility), who used the opportunity to add more points to his tally and reinforce his hold on the mountains competition.

For a long time the race settled into a calm rhythm. The bunch rode without urgency, keeping the gap under control and clearly eyeing the sprint. That changed with 40km remaining, when Jayco AlUla lifted the pace on a small rise and briefly fractured the peloton. Santiago Buitrago followed with a sharp move that stretched the line, with Jay Vine among those responding. Visma and Ineos quickly reasserted control and the race snapped back into shape.

Up front, the break took advantage of that moment. The gap, manageable until then, grew from around 30 seconds to more than a minute in the space of a few kilometres. Urianstad eased up to save energy for the days ahead, while Veistroffer was dropped before fighting his way back to Paleni inside the final ten kilometres. 

With 7km to go they were together again, and with four remaining they still held roughly 40 seconds.

Paleni then committed fully. He attacked alone with 3.4km left, forcing the peloton into a full chase and turning the run in into a test of timing and nerves. He was only caught inside the final kilometre, late enough to leave the sprint trains disorganised.

Decathlon opened early, and space appeared behind. Ben Swift surged through with Welsford locked onto his wheel, and when the moment came Welsford launched cleanly and finished it off, sealing a second stage win of the week for Ineos Grenadiers.

Tobias Lund Andresen and Lewis Bower completed the podium, while Matthew Brennan (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) was boxed in and unable to contest the sprint.

The race was set to head into its key climbing day on Saturday with the Queen Stage on Willunga Hill, but the stage has been revised due to extreme bushfire risk.

Jay Vine remains in the overall lead, with UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate Jhonatan Narváez just six seconds behind.