Bernard Sulzberger and Team Sky's Chris Sutton both retired due to the injuries they sustained in the second stage which saw two big crashes.
The stage started in Unley, suberb of Adelaide suburb and Aleksandr Kuschynski (Katusha), Luis Pasamontes (Movistar), Luke Durbridge (UniSA) Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil) lead the race early on.
All the riders wore black armbands in memory of HTC Highroad women's rider Carla Swart who was killed in an accident after beinh hit by a truck during training.
Kuschynski took the first sprint of the day at Kangarilla Rd and the second sprint with Luke Durbridge taking the King Of The Mountain Stage but he has not done enough to get the jersey off his team-mate Luke Roberts.
The stage ended with an undulating circuit around Stirling and the peleton was all back together with 20km to go.
Rabobank's Michael Matthews was first to the line beating Andre Greipel and Matt Goss who retained his leaders ocre jersey.
"It was a pretty tough day," said Goss after the stage to the HTC Highroad Press Office. "It was 36 degrees and that takes its toll on everyone. Then I had a puncture with about 12km to go and had to chase back on. I was nearly gone when we got back on and I could barely hold on but I give the credit to my teammates.
"Bernie [Eisel] and Mark [Renshaw] waited when I punctured," he added. "Mark wanted to give me his wheel but we had trouble getting the wheel in the bike and so I ended up on my spare bike. By that stage the ambulances had gone past so we had a long chase ahead. Bernie chased me all the way back on. Just as we made it back to the peloton we were at the bottom of the climb with about 5km to go. There's no respite on that hill. It's pretty nasty. Hayden [Roulston] brought me up through the bunch so I could contest the sprint."
"It just shows how strong the guys are so I think we have good chances to try to defend the jersey for the rest of the week."
Stage 4 is from Norwood to Strathalbyn and is 124km long. You can see the highlights on Sky Sports.