Sam Welsford rockets to seventh Tour Down Under win on Stage 3 as Vine retains race lead

Sam Welsford rockets to seventh Tour Down Under win on Stage 3 as Vine retains race lead

Australian claims his seventh career TDU stage victory in Nairne while Jay Vine retains the ochre jersey despite being impeded by a late crash, with extreme heat forecast for Willunga looming over the peloton.

By Peter Stuart · · 2 min read

Sam Welsford (INEOS Grenadiers) won Stage 3 of the Santos Tour Down Under in Nairne, claiming his seventh career stage victory at the race and his first in INEOS colours after a breakaway was caught inside the final kilometre.

Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) retained the ochre jersey despite being held up by a crash inside 3km, with commissaires applying the UCI's safety protocol so his six-second lead over teammate Jhonatan Narváez was maintained.

Results

Henley Beach - Nairne • Jan 23 • 140.8km

Velora
PosRiderTeamTime
🥇
Samuel Welsford
INEOS GRENADIERS3:26:43
🥈
Tobias Lund Andresen
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+00
🥉
Lewis Bower
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+00
4
Thomas Jake Stewart
NSN CYCLING TEAM+00
5
Aaron Murray Gate
XDS ASTANA TEAM+00
6
Žak Eržen
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+00
7
Finn Lachlan Fox Fisher-Black
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+00
8
Matthew Fox
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+00
9
Anthon Charmig
UNO-X MOBILITY+00
10
Jensen Plowright
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+00
11
Christopher Hamilton
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+00
12
Matthew Brennan
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+00
13
Luke Lamperti
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+00
14
Sente Sentjens
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+00
15
Patrick Eddy
Unknown+00
16
Ben Swift
INEOS GRENADIERS+00
17
Gonzalo Serrano Rodriguez
MOVISTAR TEAM+00
18
Jacopo Mosca
LIDL-TREK+00
19
Stian Edvardsen-Fredheim
UNO-X MOBILITY+00
20
Henri François Renard Haquin
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+00
21
Samuel Watson
INEOS GRENADIERS+00
22
Jhonatan Narvaez Prado
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+00
23
Rudy Porter
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+00
24
Ethan Kane Vernon
NSN CYCLING TEAM+00
25
Tim Marsman
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+00
26
Embret Svestad-Bårdseng
INEOS GRENADIERS+00
27
Laurence Pithie
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+00
28
Michal Kwiatkowski
INEOS GRENADIERS+00
29
Gal Glivar
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+00
30
Pierre Gautherat
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+00
31
Harrison Sweeny
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+00
32
Florian Samuel Kajamini
XDS ASTANA TEAM+00
33
Manlio Moro
MOVISTAR TEAM+00
34
Mauro Schmid
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+00
35
Natnael Tesfatsion
MOVISTAR TEAM+00
36
Maikel Zijlaard
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+00
37
Andrea Raccagni Noviero
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+00
38
Alberto Dainese
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+00
39
Guillaume Martin Guyonnet
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+00
40
Matthew Dinham
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+00
41
Matteo Sobrero
LIDL-TREK+00
42
Filippo Zana
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+00
43
Jay Vine
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+00
44
Marco Brenner
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+00
45
Georg Zimmermann
Unknown+00
46
Darren van Bekkum
XDS ASTANA TEAM+00
47
Simone Velasco
XDS ASTANA TEAM+00
48
Florian Stork
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+00
49
Rémi Cavagna
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+00
50
Oliver Bleddyn
Unknown+00
51
Francesco Busatto
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+00
52
Christopher Harper
Unknown+00
53
Nicolas Prodhomme
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+00
54
Marco Schrettl
XDS ASTANA TEAM+00
55
Nicholas Schultz
NSN CYCLING TEAM+00
56
Michael Shea Leonard
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+00
57
Petr Kelemen
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+00
58
Reuben Thompson
Unknown+00
59
Andrea Bagioli
LIDL-TREK+00
60
Pascal Eenkhoorn
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+00
61
Jefferson Alveiro Cepeda Hernandez
MOVISTAR TEAM+00
62
Tord Gudmestad
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+00
63
Javier Romo Oliver
MOVISTAR TEAM+00
64
Anton Schiffer
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+00
65
Santiago Buitrago Sanchez
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+00
66
Sam Oomen
LIDL-TREK+00
67
Baptiste Veistroffer
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+00
68
Matthew Greenwood
Unknown+00
69
Oliver Peace
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+00
70
Ben O'Connor
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+00
71
Hamish Mckenzie
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+00
72
Damien Craig Howson
Unknown+00
73
Kévin Geniets
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+00
74
Robert Stannard
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+00
75
Lucas Plapp
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+00
76
Callum Thornley
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+00
77
Per Strand Hagenes
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+00
78
Pavel Novák
MOVISTAR TEAM+00
79
Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier
LIDL-TREK+00
80
Patrick Konrad
LIDL-TREK+00
81
Davide Toneatti
XDS ASTANA TEAM+00
82
Alessandro Romele
XDS ASTANA TEAM+00
83
Filippo Fiorelli
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+00
84
Edoardo Zambanini
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+00
85
Alastair Mackellar
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+00
86
Tim Torn Teutenberg
LIDL-TREK+00
87
Erik Nordsaeter Resell
UNO-X MOBILITY+00
88
Luke Durbridge
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+00
89
Enzo Paleni
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+00
90
Fran Miholjević
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+00
91
Fabio van den Bossche
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+1:00
92
Andreas Lorentz Kron
UNO-X MOBILITY+00
93
Anders Skaarseth
UNO-X MOBILITY+00
94
Kelland O’Brien
TEAM JAYCO ALULA+1:10
95
Adam Richard Yates
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+00
96
Ivo Emanuel Alves Oliveira
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+00
97
Jefferson Cepeda Ortiz
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+00
98
Max Walker
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+1:23
99
Lucas Stevenson
Unknown+1:23
100
Casper Cornelis van Uden
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+00
101
Brady Gilmore
NSN CYCLING TEAM+1:34
102
James Knox
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+00
103
Pietro Mattio
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+1:45
104
Titouan Fontaine
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+1:45
105
Simon James Clarke
NSN CYCLING TEAM+1:45
106
George Bennett
NSN CYCLING TEAM+1:45
107
Callum Scotson
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+1:45
108
Antoine L'Hote
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+1:45
109
Storm Ingebrigtsen
UNO-X MOBILITY+1:45
110
Casper Pedersen
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+2:01
111
Juan Sebastian Molano Benavides
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+2:05
112
Albert Torres Barcelo
MOVISTAR TEAM+2:05
113
Tom Donnenwirth
GROUPAMA-FDJ UNITED+2:09
114
Maurice Ballerstedt
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+2:09
115
Haimar Etxeberria Ansalas
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+2:21
116
Luke Tuckwell
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+2:21
117
Jarrad Eriks Drizners
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+2:43
118
Danny van Poppel
RED BULL - BORA - HANSGROHE+2:43
119
Jack Haig
INEOS GRENADIERS+2:43
120
Niklas Märkl
TEAM PICNIC POSTNL+2:43
121
Joel Suter
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+2:43
122
Lionel Taminiaux
LOTTO INTERMARCHÉ+2:43
123
Menno Huising
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+2:43
124
Pepijn Reinderink
SOUDAL QUICK-STEP+2:56
125
Tim Rex
TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE+2:56
126
Martin Bugge
UNO-X MOBILITY+3:12
127
Liam Walsh
Unknown+00
128
Oscar Chamberlain
DECATHLON CMA CGM TEAM+3:36
129
Corbin John Strong
NSN CYCLING TEAM+3:36
130
Michael Gogl
ALPECIN-PREMIER TECH+3:36
131
Lucas Hamilton
INEOS GRENADIERS+5:35
132
Oliver Stockwell
BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS+5:35
133
Mikkel Norsgaard Bjerg
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+5:35
134
Luc Wirtgen
TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM+5:35
135
Vegard Stake Laengen
UAE TEAM EMIRATES XRG+5:35
136
Jardi Christiaan van der Lee
EF EDUCATION - EASYPOST+5:35

Image credits: Zac Williams/SWpix.com

The 140.8km stage from Henley Beach featured the Category 1 Wickham Hill early, its 3km at 7% with ramps to 11% testing whether sprint teams could keep their leaders in contact. A three-man breakaway featuring Martin Urianstad Bugge (Uno-X Mobility), Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto Intermarché) and Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ United) established a maximum advantage of 2:30.

Urianstad Bugge consolidated his mountains classification lead before cramping with 16km remaining. Veistroffer dropped at 3km, leaving Paleni alone as the peloton tried to close the gap.

INEOS delivered Welsford through the narrow finishing circuit, with Ben Swift guiding him into position before he launched his sprint, with Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) and Lewis Bower (Groupama-FDJ United) unable to keep up.

As discussed in our pre-race analysis, Welsford's win carries weight for the sprint priorities for INEOS for the rest of the 2026 season.

Picture by Zac Williams/SWpix.com - 23/01/2026 - Cycling - 2026 Tour Down Under - Stage 3 - Henley Beach to Nairne - Sam Welsford, Ineos Grenadiers, wins Stage 3.
Image 1 of 4
Picture by Zac Williams/SWpix.com - 23/01/2026 - Cycling - 2026 Tour Down Under - Stage 3 - Henley Beach to Nairne - Luke Lamperti, EF Education Easypost.
Image 2 of 4
Picture by Zac Williams/SWpix.com - 23/01/2026 - Cycling - 2026 Tour Down Under - Stage 3 - Henley Beach to Nairne - The peloton during Stage 3.
Image 3 of 4
Picture by Zac Williams/SWpix.com - 23/01/2026 - Cycling - 2026 Tour Down Under - Stage 3 - Henley Beach to Nairne - Jay Vine, UAE Team XRG.
Image 4 of 4

Heat concerns mount - Willunga ascent cancelled

Stage 3 temperatures reached 34°C, but attention turned quickly to Saturday's forecast of 42°C for the Queen stage featuring three ascents of Willunga Hill. Race organisers confirmed on Friday evening that they would be removing the ascent altogether. "The Willunga Hill component of the stage will be removed from the route entirely," organisers said in an official statement. The course will now cover only 131km.

Vine and Narváez hold a 1-2 for UAE, with Mauro Schmid (Team Jayco AlUla) third at 1:05. The shortened Willunga stage on Saturday is followed by Sunday's Stirling circuits, the final day of the race.

Cover image credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com

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Peter

Peter Stuart

Editor

Peter is the editor of Velora and oversees Velora’s editorial strategy and content standards, bringing nearly 20 years of cycling journalism to the site. He was editor of Cyclingnews from 2022, introducing its digital membership strategy and expanding its content pillars. Before that he was digital editor at Cyclist and then Rouleur having joined Cyclist in 2012 after freelance work for titles including The Times and The Telegraph. He has reported from Grand Tours and WorldTour races, and previously represented Great Britain as a rower.