Italian sprinter Elia Viviani wins Blistering Stage 3

Italian sprinter Elia Viviani caught Australian Caleb Ewan close to the line to claim stage three of the Tour Down Under in the soaring temperatures

Ewan was in a perfect position near the end of Thursday’s shortened 121km stage from Glenelg to Victor Harbor.

But a day after his outstanding win in Stirling, Ewan was shocked to see Viviani (Quick Step) speed past on the inside and there was nothing the Mitchelton-Scott rider could do.

Ewan continues to lead the Tour overall, 10 seconds ahead of Viviani, who has taken second place from Mitchelton-Scott rider Daryl Impey.

All the top sprinters in the Tour Down Under have won a stage this week - Peter Sagan at the classic on Sunday night, Andre Greipel in stage one and then Ewan and now Viviani.

The stage was shortened by 26km because of extreme 40-plus degree conditions. Australian Scott Bowden braved the furnace to spend nearly half of the stage in the lead.

Earlier, race organisers took the drastic step of cancelling Friday’s Bupa Challenge for the first time in its history because more extreme weather conditions forecast.

Stage 4 of the Tour Down Under from Norwood to Uraidla will start an hour earlier.

BMC Racing Team are set to turn up the pressure on Stage 4 ahead of Stage 5's key finish on Willunga Hill, where Richie Porte is looking to take the race lead off the Sprinters, Porte is currently in 27th overall.

VIDEO: 2018 Santos Tour Down Under Stage 3

2018 Santos Tour Down Under Top 10 Stage 3

1 Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 3:04:40 
2 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Sunweb   
3 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott   
4 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates   
5 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe   
6 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale   
7 Alex Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott   
8 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) UniSA-Australia   
9 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors   
10 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe

2018 Santos Tour Down GC after Stage 3

1 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 10:58:36 
2 Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:10 
3 Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:14 
4 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:15 
5 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:16 
6 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:17 
7 Jhonatan Restrepo (Col) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:19 
8 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:20 
9 Robert Gesink (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo   
10 Anthony Roux (Fra) Groupama-FDJ