Herald Sun Tour: Howson into yellow after Falls Creek stage win

A solo victory by Damien Howson on the 29km climb up Falls Creek on Stage 1 of the Herald Sun Tour has lifted the Orica-Scott rider into a strong position to seal the overall title. Howson and Team Sky's Kenny Elissonde had attacked from a reduced peloton mid-way through the climb with the Australian getting the better of the Frenchman in the closing kilometres.

Jai Hindley put in the ride of his young career to attack the select group behind the leading duo, which included Chris Froome and Esteban Chaves, to finish in second place as Elissonde faded in the final kilometre. Hindley's Australian national teammate Michael Storer was next to cross the line in fourth place. Chaves then stole a second over Froome in the sprint for fifth place to put Sky on the back foot in the battle for overall glory.

"It was a dream scenario to have enough time coming through the finish, in the last kay, [with a] nice gap, thinking what salute to do," Howson said of his thoughts approaching the line and whether to salute or push for every possible second. "It was one of those finishes over a climb, world's best climbers behind you, to finish it off the way I did I am very happy with that."

Over the last 18-months, the former U23 time trial world champion Howson has developed as a key climbing domestique alongside Chaves at Orica-Scott and explained that once he was in the position to pursue a personal result, he fully committed knowing it was a move that would also benefit the team.

"That was the tactic and we had so many cards to play, four climbers within a team of seven, that any of use could have won today and we all put it out there," said Howson. "It all fell in place for myself today, I got that break and it was just a matter of making sure I had the race under control and was 100 per cent confident in myself to win. Once I said I was confident to win, the team put full faith in me as well so I can’t thank the team enough for that."

Howson leads Hindley by 38 seconds on the general classification with Elissonde at 53 seconds, and Froome at 1:12 minutes in fifth place. Chaves is now ninth, two seconds off Froome.

The result ensures Sky will need to race aggressively if it is to wrest the yellow jersey off Howson's shoulders and that is what Elissonde is anticipating over the next three days.

"It is nice to be there but I would prefer Chris to win than me to finish third. That is maybe for later in the week," Elissonde said. "It seems logical that we don't ride for third place. We will not defend this place for sure so we will try something. Chris is also there to make some effort and there is still space for making some action so it is just the first day."

Team Sky director sportif Brett Lancaster suggested race radio had affected team communication but admitted Howson was the stronger of the duo on the day.

"It will be very tricky to get over a minute on Howson but it's bike racing and Froomey is one of the best bike riders in the world. We'll never give up. It's not over until the fat lady sings," he said.

How it unfolded

With the local school kids given the morning off to farewell the riders from the Apex Park start in Wangaratta, the peloton started the first road stage with a cacophony of cowbells still ringing in their ears. A flurry of attacks to get the breakaway established animated the opening stages before an eight-man group was the given the clearance enjoy some non-broadcast TV time.

The breakaway riders were Sjoerd van Ginneken (Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij), Greg Henderson (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling), former winner Calvin Watson (Aqua Blue Sport), Steve Lampier (JLT Condor), Benjamin Hill (Attaque Team Gusto), Mathew Ross (Drapac-Pat's Veg), Darcy Ellerm-Norton (St George Continental Cycling Team) and Jacob Kauffmann (NSW Institute of Sport).

At the 10km mark of the 174.2km stage, the eight men had a 50 seconds advantage which then ballooned to 2:50 minutes just two kilometres later. The maximum lead for the day was reached with the breakaway enjoying a tad over seven minutes advantage 20km in.

At the sprint point in Myrtleford, Kauffmann took the points and bonus seconds ahead of van Ginneken. The 29-year-old repeated the trick at the second intermediate sprint point in Bright with van Ginneken again second.

The breakaway's advantage had fallen to a more controllable gap that hovered between four and five minutes. As the race made its way into the category two Tawonga Gap climb, the eight leaders were just over four minutes ahead on the road. Having missed out on the sprint points, Hill decided to chase the KOM points and duly win the sprint ahead of van Ginneken.

Behind, the bunch was being controlled by Sky and Orica-Scott who had Ian Stannard and Sam Bewley on domestique duty. The peloton chipped away at the breakaway'’s lead on the descent off Tawonga Gap down to the turn around point of Mongans Bridge before heading back up the road to Falls Creek.

On the lower slopes of 29km climb, Ross was the first man from the breakaway to be distanced on the Falls Creek climb, soon to be joined by Hill, Vogt, Ellerm-Norton and Kauffmann. Back in the peloton Luke Rowe, Robert Power and Joe Cooper attacked off the front of the peloton that had closed the gap to the breakaway down to 1:22 minutes. Watson took over at the head of the breakaway as James Oram joined in the chase as the peloton started to splinter and the breakaway knew it was doomed.

The breakaway was trimmed down to the quartet of Henderson, van Ginneken, Lampier and Watson as the peloton continued to close down the gap. A Sky rider lit up the chase and initiated a 14-rider group before Froome made the first of his attacks but it came back together.

Ahead on the road, Lampier decided to leave behind Watson as the last man standings in the breakaway with Elissonde and Howson chasing then catching Lampier mid-way up the climb. The duo were quickly 90 seconds to the good on the peloton who let them ride off in the knowledge both were likely to be sent up the road for when Chaves and Froome attacked. At 10km to go, Elissonde and Howson dropped Lampier and went solo together with the JLT Condor man stuck in the middle of the two leaders and chasing bunch, earning the combativity award.

The duo pressed on with the time gap slowly dropping down to 50 seconds at the 3km to go mark as the attacks started to come thick and fast from the peloton. AS it become clear the peloton was racing for third place and the GC was slipping away, Hindley was the principle aggressor as he launched while Howson attacked Elissonde at the head of the race inside 2km. Chaves and Froome both tried moves as the Australian national team did a 'TTT' or sorts, arriving en masse at the finish line as Chaves took the honours of the selective bunch.

Race leader Danny van Poppel was over 30 minutes down on Howson as he turned workhorse for Sky today. The same fate is unlikely to befall Howson who has a strong team backing his bid for victory, improving on his third place overall in 2016. Stage 2 is a relatively flat affair but with the inclusion of the Stanley climb late in the day, another shake-up of the general classification could well be on the cards.

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