One Two For Team Sky At Jayco Sun Herald Tour

04 February 2016 10:28

British Champion Peter Kennaugh of Team Sky has won stage one of the Jayco Sun Herald Tour in Australia and taken over the lead of the race.

The stage which had Prologue winner Will Clarke of Drapac as its race leader, started and finished in Healesville and was 126kms long with sprints at Warburton after 58.4kms and Healesville after 93.5kms and two climbs at Warburton after 64.3kms (Cat 2) and Mt St Leonard after 105.5kms (Cat 1).

On a coolish day, six riders in Kristian House (ONE), Berlato (NIP), Katsonis (SOM), Slater (JLT), Evers (DSR) and Ben Hill (ATG) were the first to break not long after the flag dropped.

They took a lead of 3.24 but Team Sky and Drapac soon had that down to 3.12. The six started to work and were able to get their lead up to four minutes but it was down to 3.25 as Evers took the first sprint at Warburton ahead of Hill and Slater.

Berlato beat Katsonis who had crashed with Evers but got back in the break, to take the first KOM points on offer.

There was another crash and this forced Lucas Hamilton of the Australian U23 team to abandon the race which was to the west of the Yarra Ranges National Park and east of Melbourne.

Ben Hill beat House and Evers for the second sprint with the break, some 2:17 ahead with thirty eight kilometres left. 

On to the final climb, which Berlato took, Team Sky including Chris Froome applied the pressure and they brought back all the escapers with 97kms gone.

Froome and Peter Kennaugh attacked off the front of the peloton, quickly building a 25 second lead as the peloton fractured on the category one climb.

Howson (OGE), Clarke (UHC) and Dyball (AUS) went after the two British riders and Howson and Clarke joined them with six kilometres left.

Froome and Kennaugh attacked again taking a sixteen second lead with three kilometres to go. The pair kept going and Kennaugh took the win and the lead of the race ahead of Froome. Dion Smith of One Pro Cycling was third, seventeen seconds down, followed by Giacoppo, Haig, Bobridge, Phelan, Donohoe, Cunego and Meier of Orica GreenEdge.

Kennaugh has a seven second lead over Chris Froome and 23 seconds over Dion Smith.

Source: DSG