Sam Welsford strikes again in the Tour Down Under

Sam Welsford convincingly won the third stage of the Tour Down Under. The Australian was by far the fastest in the sprint finish to Nairne. Tobias Lund Andresen and Lowis Bower finished second and third.

For the 30-year-old Welsford, this is already his seventh victory ever in the Australian WorldTour race. Last year, he struck immediately in the first and second stages. This year, in the jersey of his new team INEOS Grenadiers, he had to wait a little longer.

It was close to being an even longer wait for Welsford. On the way to Nairne, there was a breakaway for a long time consisting of Martin Urianstad, Enzo Paleni, and Baptiste Veistroffer.

Paleni holds on for a long time
Because the stage still featured around 2400 meters of climbing and several ascents, the peloton struggled in the final kilometers to catch the last remaining escapee, Paleni. The 23-year-old Frenchman attacked away from his breakaway companions with ten kilometers to go and held on well into the last kilometer.

However, there was nothing Welsford couldn’t handle. He comfortably sprinted to the victory, while Matthew Brennan and Danny van Poppel were not able to make the impact. They might get another chance on Sunday. Saturday awaits the stage to Willunga Hill.

🫡 He wanted to redeem himself after Stage 1. And what a way to do it! An unreal effort from Sam Welsford and no one able to compete with the Aussie who wins his 7th stage on the Santos Tour Down Under!

📺 Stream the race now on 7plus: https://t.co/k2Exq3GblT

Ziptrak |… pic.twitter.com/tvexnecJgH

— Santos Tour Down Under 🚴🚴‍♀️ (@tourdownunder) January 23, 2026