Two birds with one stone. Javier Romo won the third stage of the Tour Down Under in Uraidla, in the Adelaide region, on Thursday to take the lead in the general classification. The Movistar rider trapped the favorites by exiting 5 kilometers from the finish to keep five seconds ahead of the line.
This is the first professional victory for Romo, 26, who takes control of the first World Tour event (1st division) of the season, three stages from the end. The Ecuadorian Jhonatan Narvaez, new recruit for Tadej Pogacar’s UAE team, finished the sprint for second place ahead of the New Zealander Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).
Overall, Romo has an eight-second lead over Narvaez. The loser of the day was the outgoing winner, the Briton Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech), who fell in the feed zone and is now 35 seconds behind overall. The Spaniard Martin Lopez (Astana) also fell heavily on his head. He had to give up and be taken to hospital.
Ranking of the 3rd stage
1. Javier Romo (ESP/MOV) under 147.5 km in 3 hours 46:01 (average: 39.2 km/h)
2. Jhonatan Narváez (ECU/UAD) at 5.
3. Finn Fisher-Black (NZL/RBH) tous mt
4. Albert Philipsen (DEN/LTK)
-5. Thomas Gloag (GBR/TVL)
1. Javier Romo (ESP/MOV) 10 h 13:51.
2. Jhonatan Narváez (ECU/UAD) at 8.
3. Patrick Konrad (AUT/LTK) 10.
4. Finn Fisher-Black (NZL/RBH) 10.
5. Bastien Tronchon (FRA/DAT) 12.
