Thursday, 18 January 2018: Two of the three finishing laps at Victor Harbor have been cut in stage three of the Tour Down Under stage because of heatwave conditions.

Italian sprinter Elia Viviani has caught Australian Caleb Ewan close to the line to claim stage three of the Tour Down Under.

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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 have won a race apiece this week - Peter Sagan at the classic on Sunday night, Andre Greipel in stage one and then Ewan and Viviani.

The stage was shortened by 26km because of extreme 40-plus degree conditions.

Australian mountain biker Scott Bowden braved the furnace to spend nearly half of the stage in the lead.

Bowden is riding for the composite UniSA team at the Tour and he has been in all of the breakaways through the first three days of the race.

On Thursday, Bowden went clear with South African Nicholas Dlamini (Dimension Data) soon after the start at the coastal suburb of Glenelg.

Dlamini beat Bowden at the king of the mountain intermediate checkpoint, extending his lead in that category, and dropped back to the peloton halfway through the stage.

Two finishing laps at Victor Harbor were cut because of the brutal conditions.

The only saving grace for competitors was that they were riding with a tailwind, although without any real relief.

Bowden was caught with 19.5km left and, after a brief attack from Portuguese rider Tiago Machado (Katusha), the sprinters set up for the finish.

Ewan won at Victor Harbor a year ago and was chasing his eighth stage win at the Tour.