Team Katusha’s rider Tiago Machado finished 13th today in the third stage of the Santos Tour Down Under in Paracombe. The race ended atop of the 1,6 km Torrens Hill climb with gradients up to 20%. Machado finished in one of the first groups, 15 seconds behind the stage winner, Rohan Dennis from BMC.

"The final of the stage was really tough with the final km a hard climb with 12 – 13% average gradient. Tiago tried to do his best. In the last 500 meters he was able to come close to leaders. He fought till the end. The team did a very good job, I am happy with their work. Now we are waiting for the decisive stage, we will try to do something on Willunga Hill," said sports director of Team Katusha Gennady Mikhaylov.

Second place was taken by another BMC rider Cadel Evans, while the daily podium was completed by Tom Dumoulin from Giant-Alpecin. Both riders finished 3 seconds later.

On the final climb a lot of attacks exploded the peloton. The decisive move came from Dennis with 500 meters to go. He became the new overall leader as well. Tiago Machado is 13th, 25 seconds behind the GC leader.

Tomorrow's fourth stage goes from Glenelg to Mount Barker over 144,5 km.