Richie Porte (Sky) was the last rider to get dropped by Cadel Evans (BMC) in today's third stage of the Tour Down Under but the Tasmanian ended the stage with the first chase group in 11th. Being disappointed with his own performance, he admits that new race leader Evans will be very hard to beat on Saturday's stage to the top of Willunga Hill.

 

When the race started, the Tour Down Under was expected to come down to a big showdown between the three Australian giants Simon Gerrans, Cadel Evans and Richie Porte. When the race hit the first serious climb of the race on Corkscrew Road in today's third stage, this was exactly what happened.

 

In a dress rehearsal of the battles that are expected in the Giro in May, it was Porte and Evans who emerged as the strongest on the ascent but the Sky rider was unable to keep up with his veteran compatriot towards the end. Instead, he fell back to Gerrans and despite the duo working well together, they never got back to Evans.

 

Instead, they were swallowed up by an 11-rider chase group that also included Evans' teammate and winner of the stage 12 months ago Geraint Thomas. The duo finished in 11th and 13th respectively, with Thomas now sitting in 6th on GC and Porte being 5 places further back.

 

Thomas will need to make up 29 seconds in the coming days while Porte's deficit is four seconds bigger. With only one hard stage still to come - Saturday's queen stage to the top of the Willunga Hill - Sky faces an uphill battle if they want to win the first WorldTour race of the season.

 

Porte admits to being disappointed with his performance.

 

"Cadel was absolutely flying, I tried to go with him in those hairpins, I couldn't stay with him, and he got away," he said. "It's a little disappointing, but Saturday is another hilltop finish, I am quite hopeful we have the team to at least get up there on the podium. 

 

“I’m looking forward to Willunga," he added to Sky Sports. "It’s a different climb and I think us three Aussies, Cadel, Gerro and myself, will hope it’s the same thing again. We’ll see what happens.

 

Porte admits that Evans will be very difficult to beat if he doesn't slow down later in the week.

 

“I’m a little bit disappointed," he said. "It was quite a frantic start to the climb. The team were brilliant today and Geraint was right there as well. We’ll see what happens on Saturday. It’s probably a bit more suited to me that climb but I think at the moment if Cadel’s as good on Willunga as he was today there’s not a hell of a lot you can do.”

Sports director Kurt-Asle Arvesen praised his team but shared Porte's assessment of the situation.

 

“The team did fantastic,” he said to Sky Sports. “We gave it a go and Richie was at the front there with Cadel and Geraint was just behind. We were just missing that little bit extra on the top guys. We just have to try again on Saturday and the one really selective stage to go.

 

“We came here to win and now that looks like it is going to be hard. But we won’t give up. It’s clear Cadel Evans and Simon Gerrans will be hard guys to beat.”

 

Tomorrow's stage is expected to suit the sprinters, with Team Sky likely to take a back seat before potentially offering Luke Rowe or Bernhard Eisel the chance to give it a go in the sprint.