Nat Bromhead
Aussie sprint gun Sam Welsford claimed his second UCI WorldTour stage win of the Santos
Tour Down Under in resounding fashion on Thursday.
The West Australian thanked his Bora-hansgrohe teammates after a near-perfect lead-out train saw him take Health Partners Stage 3 from Tea Tree Gully to Campbelltown with an incredible finish on Gorge Road at Athelstone.
Welsford, 27, ended the stage ahead of two-time Santos Tour Down Under stage winner Elia Viviani
(Ineos Grenadiers) and Great Britain’s Daniel McLay (Arkea-B&B) in a bunch sprint finish.
“It’s a bit of a blur, it was superfast,” Welsford said. “We knew at the top of Gorge Road (in the Adelaide Hills) we had to be in a good position. It was a crazy downhill, it was quite technical with lots of corners, the boys did a good job of holding the ride and making sure it wasn’t too early and making sure that we kept out of the wind. We knew if we went too early, we would go to the back and the boys at that speed were amazing and did a really good job of leading me out.”
Welsford, who also won Stage 1, is enjoying his first year with German team Bora Hansgrohe. After a strong start he has high hopes for the season ahead as he explains here.
