Herald Sun Tour: Hansen moves into race lead with stage 1 victory

On a thrilling day of racing that skirted the scenic Great Ocean Road, Lasse Norman Hansen (Aqua Blue Sport) emerged victorious in Warrnambool at the Herald Sun Tour. In doing so, the Dane also moves into the race leader's yellow jersey, taking it from Britain's Ed Clancy.

Steele von Hoff (Bennelong SwissWellness) was second on the stage with Cameron Meyer (Mitchelton-Scott) third in the reduced sprint finish. In the GC, Hansen leads Meyer by nine seconds and Von Hoff by 10 seconds.

On the technical run into the line, Damien Howson was among the animators of a select nine-rider group before Von Hoff opened up his sprint. Hansen timed his surge to perfection and quickly erased his 'mistake' in Wednesday night's prologue.

"This is a nice comfort prize after yesterday," said Hansen. "I was a bit gutted to have missed it yesterday but, like I said, I made a mistake and you can't expect to win when you make a mistake on a short prologue. I am really happy to make up for it today and get away with the win and jersey."

On the 161.6km stage from Colac to the coastal town of Warrnambool, the race split apart when the peloton hit the Great Ocean Road and cross winds became a factor. Further splits in the peloton occurred due to the pressure of Mitchelton-Scott and Trek-Segafredo thinning out the bunch to a nine-rider front group in the finale.

After a crazy finale Meyer struggled to find the words to describe it.

"I don't know if you can explain what happened out there. It was definitely chaotic in the last 30 kilometres," he said. "We put ourselves in a good position for the general classification. We are right up there."

Friday’s stage 2 of the Herald Sun Tour starts in Warrnambool and takes the peloton inland over 198.6 kilometres, finishing on an almost identical circuit to the Australian national championships one in Buninyong.

How it unfolded

Welcoming back the Herald Sun Tour for the first time in several years, Colac greeted the peloton with cool weather and light winds. The breeze would prove crucial in the outcome of the race three and a half hours later in Warrnambool.

The day's breakaway kicked into life when Daniel Whitehouse (Interpro Stradalli) launched a move from the peloton and was joined by Oliver Martin (Brisbane Continental) and Matt Ross (KordaMentha- Australia). Brad Evans (Mobius BridgeLane), Liam Magennis (Drapac–EF p/b Cannondale) and Kane Richards (McDonalds Downunder) then bridged across to form a six-rider breakaway.

On the rolling inland roads through dairy country, the leaders were quick to establish a gap that hovered around the four-minute mark. In the peloton, JLT Condor, with Clancy in yellow, controlled the pace. With the first mountain jersey of the race on offer at the sole climb of the day, Evans got the jump and held on for maximum points to secure a visit to the podium. The breakaway, otherwise rolling turns and working cooperatively, quickly returned to work together.

At Princetown, on approach to the coast, Trek-Segafredo and Mitchelton-Scott tested the peloton in crosswinds and the attention of their rival teams. Rolling along the Great Ocean Road and past the Twelve Apostles, the somewhat protected roads resulted in a truce. However, once through the feed zone in Peterborough 30 kilometres later, the race headed back inland with several stretches of road ripe for exploiting in the windy conditions.

Once again, Trek-Segafredo and Mitchelton-Scott were the chief culprits in blowing part the race and on the second attempt; echelons divided the peloton into numerous groups. A crash as the selections were made added to the drama as the pressure of the two WorldTour teams also cut into the lead of the breakaway. The six-leaders were caught with 15 kilometres still to race as the attacks came thick and fast.

The aggressive finale continued with a select nine-rider group riding off the front with Trek-Segafredo and Mitchelton-Scott again making the race. In the final dash to the line, the attacks came often but, for the second day running, it was an Olympic track gold medallist taking the win and leader's jersey.

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