Cadel Evans (BMC) stamped his authority on the Tour Down Under, taking his first stage win in his home race since 2002 as well as the leader's ochre jersey with a late attack on the 145km stage into Campbelltown.
The 2011 Tour de France winner initially moved clear with Sky's Richie Porte before dropping his compatriot in the steep final kilometre of the Corkscrew Road climb and holding his lead over the chasing pack on the descent to the finish.
'In this sport when you take a chance, when you take an opportunity you have to run with it. In the end the move for me was for GC actually, but stage wins aside it's great, but GC is what we're really here for,' Evans told reporters after the finish.
But despite his 12 second deficit to Evans, Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) remained defiant in his quest for a second Tour Down Under title.
'I didn't maintain the overall lead but that doesn't mean the race is lost, definitely not. I'm disappointed to lose the ochre jersey but it's not over.'
In cooler conditions in South Australia, it was once again Drapac who initiated the early move, with Travis Meyer attacking from the gun to form the break of the day along with Andriy Grivko (Astana), Jerome Cousin (Europcar), and Jens Voigt (Trek Factory Racing).
The two intermediate sprints were shared between Meyer and Grivko, but with the Astana rider sitting only 21 seconds behind race leader Gerrans, Orica-GreenEdge were omnipresent on the front of the bunch keeping the break within reach.
With 17km remaining the break was caught as the pace went up in the main field, with a number of teams forcing the pace in an attempt to be first onto the Corkscrew Road climb.
Hard work from Andre Greipel meant Lotto-Belisol won that particular race, but the Belgian team were quickly overwhelmed as BMC moved to the front with Steve Morabito and Ben Hermans setting a hard pace for team leader Evans.
Porte was the first to blink, moving clear with Evans with just under 9km remaining, but with Gerrans attempting to bridge behind, it was former world champion Evans who made what proved to be the winning move, taking 15 seconds out of Gerrans and Porte by the top of the Corkscrew Road.
Despite Porte and Gerrans being joined by a larger group including yesterday's winner Ulissi (Lampre-Merida), Evans, ever the excellent descender, held his lead over his pursuers on the 7km run down to the finish in Campbelltown.
Driving all the way to the line, Evans finished with a 15 second advantage over the chasing group, taking 10 bonus seconds to lift the ochre jersey off the shoulders of Gerrans, with Nathan Haas (Garmin-Sharp) and Ulissi taking the remaining bonifications in second and third.
Tomorrow will see the peloton ride 148km from Unley to Victor Harbor, and with just one categorised climb at the midpoint of the race, it should be one for the sprinters, although Gerrans will surely be looking to go on the hunt for bonus seconds along the way.
Stage 3 Result: Norwood-Campbelltown, 145km
1. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC 3:34:06
2. Nathan Haas (Aus) Garmin-Sharp 0:00:15
3. Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre-Merida
4. Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto-Belisol
5. Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
6. Rory Sutherland (Aus) Tinkoff-Saxo
7. Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC
8. Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC
9. Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica-GreenEdge
10. Robert Gesink (Ned) Belkin
General Classification after Stage 3
1. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC 10:46:40
2. Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 00:00:12
3. Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre-Merida 00:00:15
4. Nathan Haas (Aus) Garmin-Sharp 00:00:27
5. Robert Gesink (Ned) Belkin 00:00:29
6. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky
7. Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica-GreenEdge 00:00:33
8. Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC
9. Rory Sutherland (AUS) Tinkoff-Saxo
10. Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC
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