Jayco Herald Sun Tour 2017 – Stage 3 [Highlights]

February 4, 2017

Jayco Herald Sun Tour 2017 – Stage 3 – Benalla – Mitchelton Winery – 167,7 km

The Herald Sun Tour is an Australian professional bicycle race held in Melbourne and provincial Victoria, sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). The first tour was held in October 1952 as a six-day event. It is now held annually over five days in February. It is named after the Herald Sun, Melbourne’s only daily tabloid newspaper. It was originally known as the Sun Tour after The Sun News-Pictorial, and changed its name when The Sun News-Pictorial merged with The Herald in 1990.

Travis McCabe kicked off his first season at UnitedHealthcare in perfect style as he sprinted to victory on stage 3 of the Herald Sun Tour. Orica-Scott’s Mitch Docker hit out early but slipped to second with Aqua Blue Sport’s Leigh Howard completing the top three.

Billed as the only sprint stage of the race, the technical finale into Mitchelton Winery was complicated by the late catch of the breakaway with two big crashes decimating the field. An earlier decision by commissaires to award the same finish time for the bunch at the 3km to go banner ensured no time losses for the GC men.

Orica-Scott’s Damien Howson retained his overall lead of 38 seconds to Jai Hindley – one of the rider’s to crash – while the position of Team Sky’s Chris Froome remains unchanged at sixth, 1:12 back.

“It was hairy, it got really crazy in those last few kilometres but I put all my faith and trust in the guys and everyone rode really well. They kept me safe and out of trouble and I came into that right hand turn onto Mitchelton road probably third wheel and there was a bit of crosswind there,” McCabe said of the run-in.

“Orica just went as fast as they could with the two guys and Mitch pretty much attacked, punched out I guess, at 200 metres to go and I knew I had the legs so I went as soon as he did and held it to the line with a fairly decent gap, I am really happy.”

Team Sky’s Danny van Poppel and JLT Condor’s Brenton Jones were two of the sprinters to fall in the final with McCabe’s director sportif Hendrik Redant explaining that he would have preferred to see his rider test himself against the best in the Herald Sun Tour bunch. A view that McCabe agreed with when put to him.

“The crash was unfortunate. It came down to a sprint but a lot of guys weren’t really there for it because of that crash so it would have been nice to see how my legs hold up against the true sprinters,” he said. “I got a little bit of a chance in the crit that we had at Cadel’s race but that was the very first race back. Unfortunately, we don’t have any more sprint days left so we’ll have to wait until the next race.”

With the decision to award the finishing time to all riders caught up the crashes, tomorrow’s final day circuit around hilly Kinglake will decide the overall standings and the 2017 Herald Sun Tour champion.

“Once again, the team was fabulous and supported me all through today and essentially didn’t have to ever go too hard,” said Howson. “They were always sheltering me and that is the amazing team I have around me and we’ll be up for it tomorrow and hopefully this time tomorrow the success continues and I’ll have this jersey to keep.”

How it unfolded

103 riders rolled out of Benalla to get stage 3 underway and start the 167.7km jaunt to Nagambie’s Mitchelton Winery. The trend of aggressive starts to the Herald Sun Tour road stages in 2017 continued with numerous teams attempting to send riders up the road and initiate the breakaway.

With a flat and straight 27km road before any turns were made, the breakaway had no natural features to help their cause. Following a glut of individual riders rolling the dice, a group of 16-riders that included Froome and race leader Howson got given the all clear from the peloton. Realising the danger of letting a break go that contained Froome and Howson, the peloton chased them down 25km in as speeds hit 60km/h.

A seven-man group of Jeroen Meijers (Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij), Adrian Hegyvary (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling), Darcy Ellerm-Norton (St George Continental Cycling Team), Drew Morey (Drapac–Pat’s Veg), Dylan Sunderland (NSW Institute of Sport), Pavel Brutt (Gazprom-RusVelo), and Hamish Schreurs (New Zealand National Team) were next to have a crack 32km in and quickly pull out 20 seconds on the peloton.

Behind them, Mario Vogt (Attaque Team Gusto), and Anthony Giacoppo (IsoWhey Sports SwissWellness) joined in the chase with Aaron Gate (Aqua Blue Sport) a late attacker. The peloton took a nature break and let the seven riders go clear by two-and-a-half minutes as Gate and Giacoppo made the bridge. Jesse Ewart (7 Eleven Roadbike Philippines) and Vogt were in the middle, 40 seconds off the leaders and would give up the chase soon after

Coming into Violet Town after 50km of racing, the nine-man breakaway had 3:38 over the Sky and Orica-Scott controlled peloton.

The advantage began to diminish as the peloton trimmed the lead to 3:23. Passing through Locksley, the gap continued to fall with Sky setting a fierce tempo to shave another minute off the lead. Crosswinds had several riders off the back with the gap at two minutes with 22km to race.

Sky continued to shave down the lead, decreasing the advantage to under a minute with 15km to go and in touching distance of the second intermediate sprint point as the break splintered down to Gate, Meijers, Giacoppo, Sunderland, and Brutt.

The leaders were caught as a crash with four kilometres to go brought down numerous riders. A second crash just outside the flamme rouge brought down even more men as Michael Hepburn led Docker into the finishing straight with McCabe third. Docker couldn’t hold off the fast finishing McCabe who repeated UnitedHealthcare’s stage 3 via John Murphy from 2016.

Results :
1 Travis McCabe (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 3:46:00
2 Mitch Docker (Aus) Orica-Scott
3 Leigh Howard (Aus) Aqua Blue Sport
4 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky
5 Aleksei Tcatevich (Rus) Gazprom–RusVelo
6 Benjamin Hill (Aus) Attaque Team Gusto
7 Ivan Savitckii (Rus) Gazprom–RusVelo
8 Jesper Asselman (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
9 Jesse Kerrison (Aus) IsoWhey Sports SwissWellness
10 Brad Evans (NZl) Drapac–Pat’s Veg
11 Daniel Fitter (Aus) NSW Institute of Sport
12 Ian Bibby (GBr) JLT Condor
13 Nick van der Lijke (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
14 Taco van der Hoorn (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
15 Michael Hepburn (Aus) Orica-Scott
16 Nathan Earle (Aus) KordaMentha Real Estate Australian National Team
17 Michel Kreder (Ned) Aqua Blue Sport
18 Marcelo Felipe (Phi) 7 Eleven Roadbike Philippines
19 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Team Sky
20 Janier Alexis Acevedo Calle (Col) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
21 Damien Howson (Aus) Orica-Scott
22 Cyrus Monk (Aus) Drapac–Pat’s Veg
23 Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Gazprom–RusVelo
24 Tanner Putt (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
25 Martijn Tusveld (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
26 Timothy Guy (Aus) Attaque Team Gusto
27 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Gazprom–RusVelo
28 Michael Storer (Aus) KordaMentha Real Estate Australian National Team
29 Aaron Gate (NZl) Aqua Blue Sport
30 Jason Christie (NZl) New Zealand National Team
31 Sam Bewley (NZl) Orica-Scott
32 Lawrence Warbasse (USA) Aqua Blue Sport
33 Sergey Nikolaev (Rus) Gazprom–RusVelo
34 Jesse Ewart (Aus) 7 Eleven Roadbike Philippines
35 Samuel Jenner (Aus) KordaMentha Real Estate Australian National Team
36 Benjamin Dyball (Aus) St George Continental Cycling Team
37 Cameron Meyer (Aus) KordaMentha Real Estate Australian National Team
38 Alistair Slater (GBr) JLT Condor
39 Kirill Sveshnikov (Rus) Gazprom–RusVelo
40 Artur Ershov (Rus) Gazprom–RusVelo
41 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-Scott
42 Jesse Featonby (Aus) Drapac–Pat’s Veg
43 Jonathan Clarke (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
44 Lachlan Norris (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
45 Alistair Donohoe (Aus) Attaque Team Gusto
46 Jhoan Esteban Chaves Rubio (Col) Orica-Scott
47 Guy Kalma (NZl) Attaque Team Gusto
48 Dylan Sunderland (Aus) NSW Institute of Sport
49 Jai Hindley (Aus) KordaMentha Real Estate Australian National Team
50 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) KordaMentha Real Estate Australian National Team
51 Anthony Giacoppo (Aus) IsoWhey Sports SwissWellness
52 Timothy Roe (Aus) IsoWhey Sports SwissWellness
53 Mario Vogt (Ger) Attaque Team Gusto 0:02:31
54 Alexandr Shushemoin (Kaz) Attaque Team Gusto
55 Josh Berry (Aus) 7 Eleven Roadbike Philippines
56 Oliver Kent-Spark (Aus) Drapac–Pat’s Veg
57 Mathew Ross (Aus) Drapac–Pat’s Veg
58 Nicholas Katsonis (Aus) Drapac–Pat’s Veg 0:02:31
59 Conor Dunne (Irl) Aqua Blue Sport
60 Peter Koning (Ned) Aqua Blue Sport
61 Cameron Bayly (Aus) IsoWhey Sports SwissWellness
62 Jacob Kauffmann (Aus) NSW Institute of Sport
63 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Sky
64 Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky
65 Sebastian Henao Gomez (Col) Team Sky
66 Tim Ariesen (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij 0:02:58
67 Jeroen Meijers (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij
68 Philip Martz (USA) Attaque Team Gusto
69 Ayden Toovey (Aus) NSW Institute of Sport
70 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Sky
71 Sam Dobbs (NZl) New Zealand National Team
72 Brenton Jones (Aus) JLT Condor
73 Hamish Schreurs (NZl) New Zealand National Team 0:02:58
74 Edmund Bradbury (GBr) JLT Condor
75 James Oram (NZl) New Zealand National Team 0:03:16
76 Taylor Gunman (NZl) New Zealand National Team
77 Patrick Sharpe (Aus) St George Continental Cycling Team
78 Joshua Taylor (Aus) NSW Institute of Sport
79 Darcy Ellerm-Norton (NZl) St George Continental Cycling Team
80 Drew Morey (Aus) Drapac–Pat’s Veg
81 Joseph Cooper (NZl) IsoWhey Sports SwissWellness
82 Robbie Hucker (Aus) IsoWhey Sports SwissWellness
83 Alex Frame (NZl) JLT Condor
84 Kaden Groves (Aus) St George Continental Cycling Team 0:04:54
85 James Fouche (NZl) New Zealand National Team
86 Alex Wohler (Aus) NSW Institute of Sport
87 Calvin Watson (Aus) Aqua Blue Sport 0:05:58
88 Steve Lampier (GBr) JLT Condor
89 Brodie Talbot (Aus) St George Continental Cycling Team
90 Adrian Hegyvary (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
91 Sjoerd van Ginneken (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij 0:04:54
92 Mark John Lexer Galedo (Phi) 7 Eleven Roadbike Philippines 0:03:16
93 Edgar Nohales Neto (Spa) 7 Eleven Roadbike Philippines 0:05:58
94 Thomas Hubbard (NZl) St George Continental Cycling Team
95 Jay Dutton (Aus) St George Continental Cycling Team 0:02:31
96 Rustom Lim (Phi) 7 Eleven Roadbike Philippines 0:05:58
97 James Gullen (GBr) JLT Condor
98 Rob Power (Aus) Orica-Scott
99 Matthew Zenovich (NZl) New Zealand National Team
100 Greg Henderson (NZl) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:04:54
101 Angus Lyons (Aus) KordaMentha Real Estate Australian National Team 0:02:31
DNF Craig Evers (Aus) 7 Eleven Roadbike Philippines
DNF Scott Bowden (Aus) IsoWhey Sports SwissWellness

General classification after stage 3 :
1 Damien Howson (Aus) Orica-Scott 12:32:12
2 Jai Hindley (Aus) KordaMentha Real Estate Australian National Team 0:00:38
3 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Team Sky 0:00:53
4 Cameron Meyer (Aus) KordaMentha Real Estate Australian National Team 0:01:08
5 Michael Storer (Aus) KordaMentha Real Estate Australian National Team 0:01:10
6 Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:12
7 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) KordaMentha Real Estate Australian National Team 0:01:13
8 Nathan Earle (Aus) KordaMentha Real Estate Australian National Team 0:01:15
9 Jhoan Esteban Chaves Rubio (Col) Orica-Scott
10 Timothy Roe (Aus) IsoWhey Sports SwissWellness 0:01:17
11 Ian Bibby (GBr) JLT Condor 0:01:26
12 Janier Alexis Acevedo Calle (Col) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:01:28
13 Edmund Bradbury (GBr) JLT Condor 0:01:35
14 Jonathan Clarke (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:01:40
15 Sebastian Henao Gomez (Col) Team Sky 0:01:43
16 Cameron Bayly (Aus) IsoWhey Sports SwissWellness 0:01:45
17 Jesse Featonby (Aus) Drapac–Pat’s Veg 0:01:56
18 Lachlan Norris (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:01:57
19 Alistair Donohoe (Aus) Attaque Team Gusto 0:02:04
20 Benjamin Dyball (Aus) St George Continental Cycling Team 0:02:30
21 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Gazprom–RusVelo 0:03:40
22 Dylan Sunderland (Aus) NSW Institute of Sport 0:03:43
23 Jason Christie (NZl) New Zealand National Team 0:04:51
24 Martijn Tusveld (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij 0:05:39
25 Lawrence Warbasse (USA) Aqua Blue Sport 0:07:03
26 Robbie Hucker (Aus) IsoWhey Sports SwissWellness 0:07:07
27 Daniel Fitter (Aus) NSW Institute of Sport 0:07:16
28 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:07:27
29 Tanner Putt (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:08:03
30 Jesse Ewart (Aus) 7 Eleven Roadbike Philippines 0:10:23
31 Cyrus Monk (Aus) Drapac–Pat’s Veg 0:10:35
32 James Oram (NZl) New Zealand National Team 0:11:40
33 Mario Vogt (Ger) Attaque Team Gusto 0:12:35
34 Steve Lampier (GBr) JLT Condor 0:12:44
35 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky 0:12:47
36 Samuel Jenner (Aus) KordaMentha Real Estate Australian National Team 0:13:05
37 Sam Dobbs (NZl) New Zealand National Team 0:14:21
38 Timothy Guy (Aus) Attaque Team Gusto 0:15:26
39 Conor Dunne (Irl) Aqua Blue Sport 0:16:34
40 Artur Ershov (Rus) Gazprom–RusVelo 0:16:53
41 Taco van der Hoorn (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij 0:16:54
42 Jesper Asselman (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij 0:16:59
43 Drew Morey (Aus) Drapac–Pat’s Veg 0:19:05
44 Sjoerd van Ginneken (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij 0:19:08
45 Michael Hepburn (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:19:30
46 Jacob Kauffmann (Aus) NSW Institute of Sport 0:19:40
47 Nicholas Katsonis (Aus) Drapac–Pat’s Veg 0:20:05
48 Travis McCabe (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:21:03
49 Alexandr Shushemoin (Kaz) Attaque Team Gusto 0:21:09
50 Greg Henderson (NZl) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:21:16
51 Alistair Slater (GBr) JLT Condor 0:21:18
52 Mitch Docker (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:21:58
53 Aleksei Tcatevich (Rus) Gazprom–RusVelo 0:22:02
54 Brad Evans (NZl) Drapac–Pat’s Veg 0:22:05
55 Nick van der Lijke (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij 0:22:13
56 Sergey Nikolaev (Rus) Gazprom–RusVelo 0:22:15
57 James Gullen (GBr) JLT Condor 0:22:23
58 Oliver Kent-Spark (Aus) Drapac–Pat’s Veg 0:22:41
59 Brodie Talbot (Aus) St George Continental Cycling Team 0:22:49
60 Ivan Savitckii (Rus) Gazprom–RusVelo 0:23:20
61 Marcelo Felipe (Phi) 7 Eleven Roadbike Philippines 0:24:40
62 Tim Ariesen (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij 0:24:56
63 Jeroen Meijers (Ned) Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij 0:25:05
64 Calvin Watson (Aus) Aqua Blue Sport 0:25:32
65 Aaron Gate (NZl) Aqua Blue Sport 0:25:50
66 Guy Kalma (NZl) Attaque Team Gusto 0:26:44
67 Michel Kreder (Ned) Aqua Blue Sport 0:26:47
68 Anthony Giacoppo (Aus) IsoWhey Sports SwissWellness 0:27:05
69 Joseph Cooper (NZl) IsoWhey Sports SwissWellness 0:27:28
70 Rustom Lim (Phi) 7 Eleven Roadbike Philippines 0:28:17
71 James Fouche (NZl) New Zealand National Team 0:28:33
72 Brenton Jones (Aus) JLT Condor 0:29:49
73 Rob Power (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:30:02
74 Taylor Gunman (NZl) New Zealand National Team 0:30:04
75 Ayden Toovey (Aus) NSW Institute of Sport 0:30:06
76 Edgar Nohales Neto (Spa) 7 Eleven Roadbike Philippines 0:30:21
77 Patrick Sharpe (Aus) St George Continental Cycling Team 0:30:30
78 Benjamin Hill (Aus) Attaque Team Gusto 0:30:54
79 Angus Lyons (Aus) KordaMentha Real Estate Australian National Team 0:30:55
80 Alex Frame (NZl) JLT Condor 0:31:11
81 Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Gazprom–RusVelo 0:31:12
82 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Sky 0:31:34
83 Mathew Ross (Aus) Drapac–Pat’s Veg 0:31:45
84 Mark John Lexer Galedo (Phi) 7 Eleven Roadbike Philippines 0:32:04
85 Jesse Kerrison (Aus) IsoWhey Sports SwissWellness 0:34:13
86 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Sky 0:35:28
87 Peter Koning (Ned) Aqua Blue Sport 0:35:32
88 Leigh Howard (Aus) Aqua Blue Sport 0:36:44
89 Hamish Schreurs (NZl) New Zealand National Team 0:38:31
90 Matthew Zenovich (NZl) New Zealand National Team 0:38:35
91 Joshua Taylor (Aus) NSW Institute of Sport 0:38:48
92 Sam Bewley (NZl) Orica-Scott 0:39:16
93 Kaden Groves (Aus) St George Continental Cycling Team 0:40:28
94 Philip Martz (USA) Attaque Team Gusto 0:40:40
95 Josh Berry (Aus) 7 Eleven Roadbike Philippines 0:40:55
96 Adrian Hegyvary (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:41:29
97 Darcy Ellerm-Norton (NZl) St George Continental Cycling Team 0:43:05
98 Kirill Sveshnikov (Rus) Gazprom–RusVelo 0:49:48
99 Alex Wohler (Aus) NSW Institute of Sport 0:50:56
100 Jay Dutton (Aus) St George Continental Cycling Team 0:53:44
101 Thomas Hubbard (NZl) St George Continental Cycling Team 0:57:10