Thursday, 18 January 2018: Australian sprint legend Robbie McEwen says new star Caleb Ewan has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in stage three of the Tour Down Under.

Australian sprint legend Robbie McEwen has warned Caleb Ewan his self-confessed stuff-up at the Tour Down Under must never happen again.

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Ewan's Mitchelton-Scott teammates set him up perfectly at the end of a brutally hot third stage but, inexplicably, the new cycling star hesitated with the finish line in sight.

Italian Elia Viviani tore past him on the Victor Harbor foreshore for the stage win and Ewan finished third behind German Phil Bauhaus.

Ewan retained his overall lead for the first time at the Adelaide Tour, but there was no hiding from the fact that this was a major blunder.

It comes the day after the 23-year-old had showcased his vast talent with an outstanding upset win at Stirling to give him the overall lead.

Ewan is Australia's best sprinter since McEwen, but Thursday's effort shows he still has a lot to learn.

"He's ... snatched defeat from the jaws of victory," McEwen said on the Nine Network.

"That's a mistake you make once - never again."

In July, Ewan will make his much-anticipated Tour de France debut and McEwen is his obvious yardstick.

McEwen, an all-time sprint ace, won 12 Tour stages and took out the green jersey classification three times.

To his credit, Ewan took full responsibility for Thursday's blown finish.

He was asked whether the shortened stage suited Viviani, given Thursday's blast-furnace conditions.

"Maybe it was in his favour that it was a little bit shorter but, to be honest, I think it was my stuff-up in the sprint that cost us," Ewan said.

"I thought it was going to be a block headwind ... I didn't want to go too early and have another sprinter on my wheel, get rolled at the last minute.

"I really wanted to get my timing right.

"Elia got the jump on me and he was going a lot faster once I kicked."

Viviani's win means all the top sprinters at the Tour have wins - Peter Sagan on Sunday night in the classic, Andre Greipel in stage one, then Ewan and now the Italian.

The Rio Olympics track gold medallist joined top team Quick Step and thanked his sprint train for delivering him to the finish perfectly.

"Ten km to go, I said, 'boys ... if you do 50m more, for sure, maybe it's the 50m I don't miss for the line, like the first stage," he said.

"We are really determined as a group - it's really unique.

"I'm really proud of my team."

The stage was cut by 26km to 121km because of the 40-degree-plus conditions.

Tour organisers have also cancelled Friday's mass participation ride and stage four through the Adelaide Hills will start an hour early.

"Yesterday was hot, but okay - but today was really, really unbelievable," Viviani said.