2010 Tour Down Under – Stage3: Greipel Keeps Overall, Fuji’s Cardoso Takes Stage

UPDATE: Video recap added after the break!

Portuguese road national champion Manuel Cardoso (Footon-Servetto-Fuji) took a surprise win, outsprinting Alejandro Valverde and Cadel Evans for the stage win.

“I was extremely happy to have won the tough stage to Stirling,” said Cardoso after the finish. “Once the attack had been closed Caisse d’Epargne did a lot of work on the front in preparation for the finish but I was able to make a big move in the final kilometre.

“…it was really important for me, it is my first pro race, first pro team, first pro tour victory for me and the team, so it is a very important win.”

Today’s 132.5km Stage 3 of the 2010 saw temperatures soar to 104º, giving race leader André Greipel “cramps everywhere in my body.”  He finished among the main riders in 23rd, maintaining the overall lead and the Ochre Jersey by 14 seconds.  His goal now, according to team director Allan Peiper, is to keep the jersey tomorrow so he can fight it out on Saturday’s battle up Old Willunga Hill.

A small wreck early in the race brought U.S. road champ George Hincapie down, but no major injuries were reported. Greipel’s Columbia-HTC team pulled hard all day to keep him in contention, chasing down every break and trying to chase everyone down to the finish line.   Caisse d’Epargne did their part to keep the peloton moving swiftly, and put forth a solid effort during the final laps around Stirling to position Valverde for the win, but a moment’s hesitation gave Cardoso the break he needed to take the W.

Photos by Graham Watson. Check out his full gallery from today’s stage here and check out his Twitpic uploads here.

Catch today’s stage on Versus at 6pm EST. Stage results after the break…

Top 10 General Classification after Stage 3:

1 Andre Greipel (Ger) HTC-Columbia 9:53:38
2 Greg Henderson (NZl) Team Sky 0:00:14
3 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Team RadioShack
4 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne
5 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Katyusha 0:00:16
6 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
7 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
8 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana 0:00:19
9 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank 0:00:20
10 Robbie Hunter (RSA) Garmin-Transitions

2010 Tour Down Under – Stage 3 Results:

1 Manuel Cardoso (Por) Footon Servetto 3:14:38
2 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne 0:00:01
3 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
4 Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Doimo
5 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo
6 Michael Rogers (Aus) HTC-Columbia
7 Luke Roberts (Aus) Team Milram
8 Markus Fothen (Ger) Team Milram
9 Anthony Roux (Fra) Française Des Jeux
10 Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Katyusha
11 Davide Vigano (Ita) Team Sky
12 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto
13 Robbie Hunter (RSA) Garmin-Transitions
14 Thomas Rohregger (Aut) Team Milram
15 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Katyusha
16 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank
17 Valeriy Dmitriyev (Kaz) Astana
18 Aitor Perez Arrieta (Spa) Footon Servetto
19 Julian Dean (NZl) Garmin-Transitions
20 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana
21 George Hincapie (USA) BMC Racing Team
22 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Team RadioShack
23 Andre Greipel (Ger) HTC-Columbia
24 Ivan Velasco (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
25 Peter Mcdonald (Aus) Team UniSA-Australia
26 Jesus Hernandez Blazquez (Spa) Astana
27 Martin Elmiger (Swi) Ag2r-La Mondiale
28 Baden Cooke (Aus) Team Saxo Bank
29 Wesley Sulzberger (Aus) Française Des Jeux
30 Lance Armstrong (USA) Team RadioShack
31 Greg Henderson (NZl) Team Sky
32 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Garmin-Transitions
33 Thomas Frei (Swi) BMC Racing Team
34 René Mandri (Est) Ag2r-La Mondiale
35 Jurgen Van De Walle (Bel) Quick Step
36 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale
37 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne
38 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Team Sky
39 Jose Alberto Benitez Roman (Spa) Footon Servetto
40 Serguei Klimov (Rus) Katyusha
41 Jurgen Van Goolen (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:00:09
42 Matthew Lloyd (Aus) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:00:12
43 Daryl Impey (RSA) Team RadioShack 0:00:17
44 Christopher Sutton (Aus) Team Sky
45 Jose Rojas (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne
46 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) HTC-Columbia 0:00:24
47 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi 0:00:29
48 Matthew Wilson (Aus) Garmin-Transitions
49 Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) Katyusha
50 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Française Des Jeux
51 Mikael Cherel (Fra) Française Des Jeux
52 Jonathan Cantwell (Aus) Team UniSA-Australia
53 Timothy Roe (Aus) Team UniSA-Australia
54 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:35
55 David Vitoria (Swi) Footon Servetto 0:00:36
56 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
57 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Team RadioShack
58 Pierre Cazaux (Fra) Française Des Jeux 0:00:38
59 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Astana 0:00:44
60 Juan Ripoll Horrach (Spa) Katyusha
61 Koos Moerenhout (Ned) Rabobank
62 Christian Meier (Can) Garmin-Transitions
63 Stef Clement (Ned) Rabobank
64 Gorazd Stangelj (Slo) Astana
65 Thomas Vedel Kvist (Den) Quick Step
66 Frank Hoj (Den) Team Saxo Bank
67 Alexandr Pliuschin (Mda) Katyusha
68 Josep Jufre Pou (Spa) Astana 0:00:55
69 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo
70 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Rabobank
71 Sebastien Rosseler (Bel) Team RadioShack
72 Hayden Roulston (NZl) HTC-Columbia
73 Arthur Vichot (Fra) Française Des Jeux
74 Romain Sicard (Fra) Euskaltel – Euskadi
75 Jonas Ljungblad (Swe) Omega Pharma-Lotto
76 Jason McCartney (USA) Team RadioShack 0:01:10
77 Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) Team RadioShack 0:01:39
78 Kasper Klostergaard (Den) Team Saxo Bank
79 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) HTC-Columbia 0:01:48
80 Ivan Gutierrez (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne 0:01:51
81 Trent Lowe (Aus) Garmin-Transitions
82 Stuart O’grady (Aus) Team Saxo Bank 0:01:53
83 Rick Flens (Ned) Rabobank 0:01:55
84 Thomas Leezer (Ned) Rabobank 0:02:20
85 Gerben Lowik (Ned) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:02:21
86 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team UniSA-Australia 0:02:32
87 Perget Mathieu (Fra) Caisse d’Epargne 0:02:49
88 Allan Davis (Aus) Astana
89 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi 0:03:33
90 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
91 Bert Grabsch (Ger) HTC-Columbia 0:03:59
92 Mickael Delage (Fra) Omega Pharma-Lotto
93 Cyril Dessel (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale 0:04:04
94 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Ag2r-La Mondiale 0:04:35
95 Martin Kohler (Swi) BMC Racing Team
96 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Française Des Jeux
97 Biel Kadri (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale
98 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) BMC Racing Team
99 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Team UniSA-Australia
100 Olivier Kaisen (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:05:57
101 Dominik Roels (Ger) Team Milram
102 Denis Galimzyanov (Rus) Katyusha 0:07:03
103 Simon Clarke (Aus) Team UniSA-Australia
104 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky
105 Matthew Goss (Aus) HTC-Columbia
106 Russell Downing (GBr) Team Sky
107 David Kemp (Aus) Team UniSA-Australia 0:07:35
108 Daniel Sesma (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi 0:08:11
109 Miguel Minguez (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
110 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Quick Step 0:09:30
111 Mathieu Drujon (Fra) Caisse d’Epargne
112 David Gutierrez (Spa) Footon Servetto
113 Kevin Van Impe (Bel) Quick Step 0:09:32
114 Addy Engels (Ned) Quick Step
115 Anders Lund (Den) Team Saxo Bank
116 Juan Jose Haedo (Arg) Team Saxo Bank
117 Martin Pedersen (Den) Footon Servetto
118 Jose Garcia (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne 0:10:01
119 Robert Forster (Ger) Team Milram
120 Mauro Facci (Ita) Quick Step
121 Björn Schroder (Ger) Team Milram
122 Michele Merlo (Ita) Footon Servetto
123 Anthony Ravard (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale
124 Jack Bobridge (Aus) Garmin-Transitions
125 Karsten Kroon (Ned) BMC Racing Team 0:10:52
126 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank 0:11:10
127 Maciej Paterski (Pol) Liquigas-Doimo 0:12:45
128 Kristijan Koren (Slo) Liquigas-Doimo
129 Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo
130 Wim Stroetinga (Ned) Team Milram 0:15:11
DNF Tiziano Dall’antionia (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo