The black train of Giant-Alpecin worked at the front in the closing six kilometres, ahead of the climb to the finish at 143.2 kilometres. At 1.3 kilometres to race, when the road ramped up, Simon Geschke whittled the group down to five of cycling’s elite riders.

Tom Dumoulin took over to fight for the stage win under the hot Aussie sun and among the thousands of fans who came from nearby Adelaide. His company included BMC’s Cadel Evans and Rohan Dennis, Richie Porte (Sky) and Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R La Mondiale).

Dennis shot clear at 450 metres and carried his advantage to the finish line. He took the win and overall lead. Evans and Dumoulin finished second and third at three seconds back.

Simon Geschke continued his pace to place 10th at 13 seconds behind. He sits 11th overall now.

With bonus seconds calculated in, Dumoulin sits nine seconds behind race leader Dennis. Evans holds second spot at seven seconds and Porte fourth place with a group of six cyclists at 15 seconds.

“I’m happy with my third place,” said Dumoulin. “The boys took me and Simon perfectly to the bottom of the climb. I had a nice gap with Porte, Evans and Pozzovivo, but at the top, a group came back and Rohan Dennis attacked. I attacked but could not catch him and got passed on the line by Evans.

"I tried behind him, but I could not close the gap. It is unfortunate that Evans passed me in the last few metres. But I am certainly pleased with this third place.

"I try to defend the podium spot. The stage to Willunga on Saturday will be decisive. Whether I can be better on a more regular climb is hard to say in advance. It's going to be a battle with both BMC riders and Porte."

“The day was not too hard, although the weather was worse, 36 degrees,” race coach Addy Engels said. “There was a small break all day, we didn’t need to pull.

“We started the lead-out to the bottom of the climb early, just to be in position when the real downhill, with many corners, started. That worked out, Tom and Simon were in the front positions at bottom.”