After playing second fiddle on two occasions in sprint finishes, former Tour de France sprint champion Baden Cooke finally took the honors on stage 3 of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour.

Cooke, riding for Barloworld, had been edged out by early Tour leader Matt Goss (CSC - Saxo Bank) on the opening two days, but atoned in a desperate scramble to the line in Marysville. Canadian Dominque Rollin (Toyota-United) was second on the stage and was among the riders who protested Cooke's finish. Officials, however, upheld the win.

Meanwhile several North Americans and riders on North American teams moved into the top ten on GC, well positioned prior to stage 4, which is expected to be decisive. Defending Sun Tour champion Matt Wilson, an Australian on the U.S.-based Team Type 1, pulled on the green-and-white polka-dot Cyclismo Bendigo King of the Mountains jersey following stage 3. His New Zealand teammate Gen Chadwick is seventh on GC, 35 seconds behind overall leader Stuart O'Grady (CSC-Saxo Bank).

Thursday's 71-mile (115 km) stage finishes with a tough 10-mile (16 km) ascent to the summit of Mt. Buller. It is the final rated climb of the race. Friday's stage is an out-and-back, rolling time trial, followed by a criterium Saturday.

Protested finish

In a dramatic finish, Cooke had to survive protests from Rollin, Jeremy Yates (Yes Optus Shop – New Zealand), who was fourth, and sixth placed William Walker (Virgin Blue Australia) before officially being declared the winner.

Overnight leader Stuart O’Grady finished fifth on the stage to extend his overall lead to 16 seconds as his CSC - Saxo Bank teammate Brad McGee had to receive special dispensation from the commissaries to continue after finishing outside the time limit.

Cooke put the confusion in the finish down to his previous experience in Marysville, saying when he has come into Marysville before it was from a different direction.

“I spun around the corner at 200 meters to go in perfect position and then went to turn up the hill. I went to go left and then saw the finish line on the right so I had to cut back.

“My first thoughts were that I was going to crash. I didn’t think I was going to make it back on the right side of the barrier and then when I actually saw that I had enough left to win I was very happy.”

Early break

O’Grady’s teammates were forced to chase the early breakaway of the day containing Jonny Clarke (Toyota-United) and Gordon McCauley (Yes Optus Shop – New Zealand), who had a lead of one minute and 20 seconds at the bottom of the final climb.

The reaction in the peloton came from William Ford (SouthAustralia.com-AIS) who rode across to the front. He quickly dropped Clarke and McCauley before being joined by Jeremy Yates.

With the help of his team, O’Grady closed down the gaps to defend his overall race lead and finished fifth on the stage but didn’t have it all his own way.

“I was in a spot of bother on that last climb and Matty (Matt Goss) came through with some great work,” O’Grady said.

“The whole team did a fantastic effort. There’s only five of us here so everyone has got to pull out 100 percent.

“The guys wanted to put on a pretty good pace to try and put us under as much pressure as possible to then attack us in the last 10km of the climb.

“I was pretty happy to let them go and do my own rhythm. I know my maximum level and I just got to that and held it and then got back on just over the top. Then the last 10km down to here was pretty mad.”

McGee struggles in

McGee was in difficulty on the climb, suffering from a sore knee and stomach problems.

The 32-year-old crossed the line 22:36 behind the stage winner, two minutes outside the elimination time.

Following a visit to the race doctor, the chief commissaire agreed that McGee could continue.