Robert Power (Team Sunweb) led the pack behind stage winner Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) in the uphill finish to Paracom on Thursday's third stage of the Tour Down Under to take third place overall, nine seconds behind the new race leader.

Power was the first to finish in the top three.

Power is only 24 years old, but he is recovering from a rare form of myeloedema syndrome that delayed the start of his pro career at Orica-GreenEdge in 2016. He finished second in the 2014 Tour de l'Avenir, winning the prestigious race in Italy as an under-23 rider, but was forced to wait until the Tour of Britain in September 2016 to begin his professional career.

After winning the Japan Cup in 2018, Power left Mitchelton Scott's sheltered Australian cocoon and joined Team Sunweb in 2019, riding both the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España last season, the latter of which helped Wilco Kelderman to a seventh place overall finish.

His early prodigious early success was expected, and he showed that he is back to his best in the battle for position on the run-in to Paracom and in the uphill sprint chasing Porte.

"I've worked really hard this offseason, so I knew I could come here in good shape," Power said modestly.

"Everyone ran great today. Yesterday, Jai Hindley crashed and everyone said, 'Rob, if you want to, go for it.'

Porte now leads Darryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) by 6 seconds, Power is 2 seconds ahead of Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), 5 seconds ahead of George Bennett (Jumbo Visma) and fellow Australian Rohan Dennis (Team Ineos (Team Ineos) by six seconds to nine seconds in third place.

Power is clearly in position to take the overall win and his first WorldTour podium of the 2020 season. He can probably fight for important time bonuses in the remaining stages. He will then look for that spot on the final stage, Willunga Hill, where Porte is expected to attack again.

"It's still a long race, so we'll just have to wait and see," Power said of his overall ambitions.

"Richie seems to be in good shape, but I think we can be good too. Everyone is motivated and I want to be part of the race."