page_title: 2010 Tour Down Under
section_title: Stage 3
hierarchical_section_title: 2010 Tour Down Under / Tour stages / Stage 3
caption_attribution_description: English: A breakaway passes through Stirling on the first of three laps during the third stage of the 2010 Tour Down Under. From left to right: Jens Voigt of Team Saxo Bank, Simon Clarke of Team UniSA (mostly obscured by Voigt), Jack Bobridge of Garmin-Transitions, Maciej Paterski of Liquigas-Doimo (mostly obscured by Bobridge) and Karsten Kroon of BMC Racing Team.
context_page_description: The 2010 Tour Down Under was the 12th edition of the Tour Down Under cycling stage race. It was held from 19 to 24 January 2010 in and around Adelaide, South Australia. It was the first event in the 2010 UCI World Calendar. The race was won by André Greipel of Team HTC–Columbia after he won the sprint finishes to three of the race's stages.
context_section_description: 21 January 2010 - Unley to Stirling, 132.5 km (82.3 mi)
  This stage contained the Tour's most difficult climb to this point, Wickhams Hill Road, which came just before the 40 km (25 mi) mark. Afterward, the course remained at approximately the elevation reached after the climb, and undulated.
  The temperature topped out at over 40 °C (104 °F) on this day, which combined with the hilly terrain made the stage very difficult for some riders. A 40-rider group contested the final sprint finish, while half the peloton lost more than a minute and 13 riders lost more than ten minutes. The day's breakaway involved Simon Clarke of UniSA-Australia and Karsten Kroon from BMC Racing Team, who were joined at the 70 km (43 mi) mark by Maciej Paterski, Jens Voigt, and Jack Bobridge. Caisse d'Epargne was the team who worked the hardest to chase them down, thinning the leading group to try to protect Alejandro Valverde, José Joaquin Rojas, or Luis León Sánchez for a stage-winning attack. Portuguese national champion Manuel Cardoso from Footon–Servetto–Fuji broke out of the leading group within the final kilometer and took the stage win away from Valverde or Cadel Evans, who had seemed poised to contest a sprint with Valverde. After the stage, Valverde described holding Evans' wheel, and that a moment of hesitation when he was unsure if Evans was attacking for victory had cost him his chance of catching Cardoso. Cardoso's win was his first as a ProTour rider.
  
  
   
  Stage 3 Result
   
  General Classification after Stage 3
caption: The stage's principal breakaway – Jens Voigt, Simon Clarke, Jack Bobridge, Maciej Paterski, and Karsten Kroon, from left to right.
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