Tour Down Under 2016: Overall leader Simon Gerrans holds his nerve to win Stage 3

YOU can’t keep a good man down and Simon Gerrans showed again why he is the man for the big occasions by storming into the Tour Down Under leader’s jersey with an enthralling Stage 3 win in Campbelltown.

TOUR DOWN UNDER - STAGE 3 - Glenelg to Campbelltown. Simon Gerrans on the decent of the Corkscrew and on his way to win the stage and take the Ochre Jersey. Photo Sarah Reed

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YOU can’t keep a good man down and Simon Gerrans showed again why he is the man for the big occasions by storming into the Tour Down Under leader’s jersey with an enthralling Stage 3 win in Campbelltown.

Gerrans held his nerve as his rivals attacked at 105km/h on the descent of Corkscrew Road and then showed his 35-year-old legs are still among the fastest in the peloton by winning a sprint finish from BMC’s Rohan Dennis and Cannondale’s Michael Woods.

The 10-second time bonus at the finish was enough for Gerrans to replace Tinkoff’s Jay McCarthy — who rode a brilliant race to finish fourth — in the ochre jersey by just three seconds.

After a crash ruined his chances in Stirling on Wednesday and a series of falls wrecked most of his 2015 campaign, the Orica-GreenEDGE star was all smiles Thursday night.

“It’s been such a long time between drinks and I had such a difficult season last year, so to start out by winning (a stage of the TDU) I’m really, really happy,” Gerrans said.

TDU Stage 3 in pictures

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“The guys worked so hard for me (on Wednesday) and really laid it on the line and to have a mishap so close to the finish was bitterly disappointing, so to come away 24 hours later with a win and now the lead, I think everyone will be really happy tonight.

“The fact I got 10 seconds on the line is going to go a heck of a long way towards the overall ... It’s going to be difficult but I tell you what it’s a lot harder to get than it is to keep.”

With Stage 4 expected to produce a sprint into Victor Harbor Friday, it all points towards a showdown on Old Willunga Hill on Saturday.

Gerrans leads the pack. Photo: Sarah Reed.

But Dennis said Thursday if he and teammate Richie Porte were unable to put at least 10 seconds into Gerrans on the penultimate climb, the race could be headed for an unprecedented shootout for bonus seconds at intermediate sprint points on the final stage in the city.

“Gerrans — you can’t take anything away from him, he hasn’t won Liege (Bastogne-Liege) and Tour de France stages beating guys like Sagan in a sprint for nothing and I really have to take my hat off to him,” Dennis said.

“It’s going to go down to the wire, if we don’t get 10 seconds up on Gerrans before the last crit, they’re going to go for the premes (sprints) in the middle.”

Dennis looked like he was in trouble when Porte attacked on the climb but managed to remain in touch with the front group which earlier had been split by a crash involving six riders with 18km to go.

“At the bottom when I started to ride, Rohan gave me a big grin and thumbs up and that was always what he was going to do, just sit to the back and cover wheels,” Porte said.

Gerrans now has the Ochre jersey. Photo: Sarah Reed.

“Obviously Rohan was fantastic again today, he was so close to Gerro so it’s good signs for our team.

“I think it’s quite obvious (what we need to do), get through (Friday) ... then on Willunga I think we’re just going to absolutely throttle it and give it to them.”

BMC however was last night sweating on the fitness of its road captain, Marcus Burghardt, who was caught up in the crash just outside of Cudlee Creek.

Burghardt did not ride back to the city with his teammates after the crash and instead went back in a team car saying he was “hopeful” he had not suffered an injury.

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