Jayco Herald Sun Tour: Meyer wins in Bendigo to take overall race lead

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A late attack from a select group group that formed on the first climb of the day saw Cam Meyer (Orica-GreenEdge) trump New Zealand national champion Joe Cooper (Avanti) to move into the overall race lead after the 146km stage. Pat Bevin (Avanti) won the sprint for third place ahead of defending champion Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEdge) with the riders riders occupy the top of the GC in stage order.

"It was a hard day out there and from the first hill you could see it was on," said Meyer, who leads Cooper by four seconds and Bevin by 15 seconds. "There was twenty of us away and that’s how it stayed until the finish. There was lots of attacks at the finish and I had to bide my time for the right move. I love that sort of race, 20 guys just like it used to be on the track with the points race and trying to judge when to make the move and I made the right one.

"I brought an Avanti guy which was perfect, he didn’t want to give me a turn in the last 10km which I got a little angry with but I still had enough to win and I am really happy."

As Meyer, explained he knew that Cooper was unlikely to take a turn but persisted nevertheless and was rewarded for doing so.

"[I had a] few words to try and encourage him to come through but I knew his situation with three teammates behind and Pat Bevin, who’s one of the fastest [in the break], who won the sprint but it was about trying to encourage him to get that five percent," Meyer said. "He wouldn’t do it, but I managed to get him to lead the sprint out which I love coming from back in a long sprint after a hard day."

Cooper, who entered the race with aspirations for the overall explained Avanti's tactics once the break had been established.

"My role was to mark cam and when he went I was able to respond and it was one of the hardest 10km I’ve done," Cooper said. "The plan to bring it all back together for a bunch kick for Paddy, who cleaned up, but it was Cam and I up the road.

"I’m sure we’ll come up with some sort of plans to give me the edge but he’s world class and hats off to him today. He had a good ride."

A fast and uphill start

The race started with a category one climb, Mt Macedon, just four kilometres into the stage. After a primary school rendition of the national anthem, the riders headed down the hill from the Mt Macedon hotel for four kilometres only to turn around and start climbing. Orica-GreenEdge put the hammer down via Damien Howson to form a select 21-rider group on the early slopes of the climb.

The group contained Simon Clarke, Cameron Meyer, Damien Howson (Orica GreenEdge), Serge Pauwels (MTN - Qhubeka), Lucas Euser, Christopher Jones, Daniel Summerhill (UnitedHealthcare), Franco Pellizotti (Androni Giocattoli), Lachlan Norris (Drapac), Patrick Bevin, Patrick Shaw. Mark O'Brien, Joseph Cooper (Avanti), Michael Torckler, Brendan Canty (Budget Forklifts), Mitchell Cooper (Navitas Satalyst), Chris Hamilton, Lachlan Morton (KordaMentha Australian Team), Grant Ferguson, Scott Davies (Great Britain National Team) and Robert Power (U23 Australia).

When they crested for the KOM points, Rob Power (U23 Australia) grabbed maximum points ahead of Brendan Canty (Budget Forklifts) while the second group on the road, including race leader Will Clarke (Drapac) come over 35 seconds in arrears.

With the sprinters all but eliminated just 10km into the day, the breakaway's advantage had grown to 1:50 on the flat roads after the descent.

At the first sprint point of the day in Kyneton, Summerhill took the spoils ahead of Shaw and Hamilton with the advantage reaching 3:30 minutes.

At the 60km mark, the 21-riders started the ascent of the second climb of the day, up Mt Alexander, with a 50-50 split quickly occurring in the front. Power grabbed the KOM to secure himself the jersey at the podium celebrations, along with the most aggressive prize, but the group was all back together once the fast descent was made.

The peloton was over 12 minutes down on the leaders when it reached the KOM point, all impetus for the chase extinguished due to the fact the majority of the team were represented up front.

On the entry to the feed zone, the front group split again as Meyer needed a few front wheel after flatting. He chased back on and it was all back together at the front after the riders had picked up supplies.

The gap back to the peloton was steadily expanding as it hit the 17 minutes mark within the final 25km with the front group starting to anticipate the finish.

At 15km to go, Meyer launched his race winning move with Cooper the only rider to join him. On the fast entry to Bendigo, the two enjoyed a 10-second gap over the chasers with Torckler and Norris attempting to bridge but to no avail.

On the first of the two finishing laps around the gold rush city, Meyer took the points and when they came around again, it was Meyer repeating the dosage to take his first win of the season and important bonus seconds on the line.

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