Despite the soaring temperatures, which led to organisers chopping two laps of the final circuit from the end of the race, Nickolas Dlamini (Dimension Data) and Scott Bowden (UniSA-Australia) continued their 100 per cent record of getting in the break.

Given the rising mercury, which hit 40 degrees, the peloton was happy to let the duo go as Dlamini continued his one-man assault on the King of the Mountains title, but the South African sat up once the day’s climbing was done.

It left Bowden to plough on alone, satisfying himself with the consolation of winning the two intermediate sprints – the passage of which saw a little flurry of action in the peloton with unexpected bonus seconds up for grabs.

Tour Down Under 2018: stage three – result

1) Elia Viviani (ITA) – QuickStep Floors – 3.04.40hrs
2) Phil Bauhaus (GER) – Team Sunweb – ST
3) Caleb Ewan (AUS) – Mitchelton-Scott
4) Simone Consonni (ITA) – UAE Team Emirates
5) Peter Sagan (SVK) – Bora-hansgrohe
6) Simon Clarke (AUS) – EF-Drapac
7) Alexander Edmondson (AUS) – Mitchelton-Scott
8) Zak Dempster (AUS) – UniSA-Australia
9) Dries Devenyns (BEL) – QuickStep Floors
10) Jay McCarthy (AUS) – Bora-hansgrohe

General classification

1) Caleb Ewan (AUS) – Mitchelton-Scott – 10.58.36hrs
2) Elia Viviani (ITA) – QuickStep Floors +10”
3) Daryl Impey (RSA) – Mitchelton-Scott +14”
4) Jay McCarthy (AUS) – Bora-hansgrohe +15”
5) Peter Sagan (SVK) – Bora-hansgrohe +16”
6) Nathan Haas (AUS) – Katusha-Alpecin +17”
7) Jhonatan Restrepo (COL) – Katusha-Alpecin +19”
8) Simone Consonni (ITA) – UAE Team Emirates +20”
9) Robert Gesink (NED) – LottoNL-Jumbo – ST
10) Anthony Roux (FRA) – FDJ