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Daring attack pays off for Spain's Romo in Tour Down Under win / Photo: © AFP
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Daring attack pays off for Spain's Romo in Tour Down Under win
Spain's Javier Romo swept to his first UCI World Tour victory on the back of a daring attack to win the third stage and take the lead in the Tour Down Under on Thursday.
Romo (Movistar Team) grabbed the winning break with an attack after the final hill climb, five kilometres from the finish in Uraidla, and held on for a comfortable win to grab the leader's ochre jersey with three stages left in the World Tour season opener.
The Spaniard had time to celebrate his win as he crossed the line five seconds ahead of the fast-charging Colombian Jhonatan Narvaex (UAE Team Emirates) and New Zealander Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).
Romo holds an eight-second lead over Narvaez, with Austria's Patrick Konrad third heading into Friday's 157.2 km fourth stage to Victor Harbour.
"It's so important for me. After this winter I worked a lot for the Tour Down Under. I can imagine this day," Romo said.
"I am so happy, I want to say thank you to my team, because today was very good for me. In the last kilometre I knew the victory was mine."
It was a day for the climbers after the opening two sprint stages, with overnight race leader Sam Welsford (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) finishing 108th in the arduous stage to lie 105th overall, some 12.3 seconds behind new leader Romo.
Defending champion Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) hobbled back on his bike after a nasty crash in the feed zone and worked through the peloton before finishing 28th and 23rd overall, some 35 seconds behind the lead halfway through the tour.
He will be assessed by the team's medical staff.
Spaniard Martin Lopez (XDS Astana) also came to grief in a crash 15km from the finish, hitting the tarmac head first, abandoning the race and taken to hospital for checks.
Fergus Browning (ARA Australian Team) continued his breakout tour success by extending his lead in the King of the Mountain to 43 points after taking two of the three KOM stages on Thursday.
J.Scott--SFF
