Herald Sun Tour: Clancy wins prologue

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Ed Clancy (JLT Condor) has started his 2018 season with a bang, clocking an average speed over 50km/h to win the Herald Sun Tour prologue in Melbourne.

On the 1.6 kilometre course, Clancy’s time of 1:54 minutes was just under a second quicker than Danish duo of Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) and Lasse Norman Hansen (Aqua Blue Sport).

A three-time Olympic gold medallist and five-time world champion on the track, the win is Clancy's first professional victory on the road. The shortening of the prologue from previous years played very much to his strengths.

The 10th starter of 101 riders, Clancy endured a long but ultimately successful wait in the hot seat. For JLT Condor, the start of the Herald Sun Tour has yielded podiums, but until Wednesday evening no victories.

Clancy will now wear the leader's yellow jersey in the first of four road stages, with the peloton heading west from Colac along the Great Ocean Road to Warrnambool. The possibilities of crosswinds are sure to result in a nervous day for Clancy and JLT Condor.

"This is the biggest thing I have won on the road. It is unusual for a stage race of this calibre to start off with such a short prologue. It suits the track with my physical assets," Clancy said.

In recent editions of the race, a challenging stage 1 has seen the yellow jersey change hands. With two tough stages to come before the GC deciding Lake Mountains, Clancy admitted he isn't dreaming of joining Brad Wiggins and Chris Froome as overall winners. He is simply focused on enjoying his first leader's jersey.

"This is big for a guy like me and perhaps as big as it is going to get. I am over the moon and I can't wait to ride around in the yellow jersey tomorrow. I think everyone here knows what I am about and no one is expecting me to take on Chaves on stage 3 so I am going to enjoy my day in yellow."

As the first starter of the prologue, Reece Tucknott was also the first rider into the hot seat but would soon give up his place to Clancy who was a full nine seconds faster. The JLT Condor rider stayed in the hot seat for over an hour until all his rivals failed to beat his time and his victory was confirmed.

Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott) was significantly slower than Clancy, as expected, crossing the line with a 2:08 minute time. His time loss though unlikely to be decisive in the battle for the overall victory.

In the race for the prologue win, Clancy's teammate Graham Briggs pushing Clancy close and provisionally taking second place. It was then Pedersen who came closer, finishing point six of second slower. Compatriot Lasse Norman Hansen (Aqua Blue Sport) was also within one second of Clancy.

Alex Frame (Trek-Segafredo) and Alex Edmondson (Mitchelton-Scott) keep the suspense high until the final minute. However, at the end of the long wait, it was Clancy raising his arms in triumph on the podium. Post stage, Pedersen and Hansen both explained their teams will look to exploit any crosswinds on stage 1 to Warrnambool. Both stopping short though of explaining their plans in detail.

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