Herald Sun Tour: Hindley wins stage 2 at Falls Creek ski resort

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Team Sunweb's Jai Hindley took the race leader's jersey from teammate and stage 1 winner Alberto Dainese at the Herald Sun Tour on Thursday, winning stage 2 at the Falls Creek ski resort from Damien Howson (Mitchelton-Scott) and Sebastian Berwick (St George).

Berwick – of the domestic Australian team St George Continental – was the day's surprise package, keeping pace with, and attacking, his WorldTour team colleagues, but the even bigger surprise was race favourite Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) getting dropped on the climb with more than five kilometres to go, and eventually coming home almost six minutes down on Hindley.

After Yates was dropped, Hindley's Sunweb teammate Michael Storer continued to apply the pressure to an ever-reducing front group, and there were just four riders left with 2.5km of the final climb left to go – Hindley, Howson, Berwick and EF Pro Cycling's Neilson Powless – after Hindley came to the front to take over.

Twenty-year-old Berwick attacked his more experienced rivals with 2km to go, and it was Hindley who reacted first to bring him back, with Howson and Powless taking longer to rejoin them. Five hundred metres later, Hindley tried his luck, but was marked by Howson and Berwick.

After going under the one-kilometre-to-go banner, it was Howson's turn to try, with Hindley again covering the move, and followed by Berwick, with Powless again slower to get back on terms.

Berwick's attack with just over 500 metres to race put an end to Powless's chances, and it wasn't long after the US rider was dropped that Berwick decided to open his sprint, although it was Hindley who packed the most powerful punch to the line, winning ahead of Howson and a highly impressive Berwick.

"Hats off to Damien and Seb," said Hindley at the finish. "They were super strong and I couldn't shake them. I saw 300 metres to go, and thought that was a bit early, so I held back a bit, and then Seb went, and I managed to follow him and then jump around him.

"I'm just stoked to finish off all the hard work the Sunweb boys did for me today. They were amazing," he said.

How it unfolded

The riders rolled out from Beechworth for stage 2 facing 117.6km, with the final 30km climb, finishing at the Falls Creek ski resort, acting as the first real test of this year's race.

For the second day in a row, Ben Hill went on the attack early, and would end the day in the green points jersey after picking up points at the intermediate sprints for his troubles. The Team BridgeLane rider was soon joined by Angus Lyons (Oliver's Real Food Racing), and the duo was subsequently joined by Genki Yamamoto (Kinan) Cade Bickmore, Scott McGill (both Aevolo), Bentley Niquet-Olden (Nero Continental) and Luke Mudgway (Black Spoke Pro Cycling Academy), and the break worked together to built a lead of more than three minutes over the main field.

Soon after the feed zone, however, Lyons decided to go it alone, and was again joined by Hill, and the two riders made it on to the start of the final climb together. The climb soon put paid to Hill's efforts, and Lyons pushed on alone, and was eventually joined by Kinan's Salvador Guardiola, with the chasing quintet having been reabsorbed into the bunch, which was soon shedding riders out of the back as the road headed upwards.

By the mid-point of the climb, Lyons and Guardiola were caught by the chase group, and it was Mitchelton-Scott and EF Pro Cycling who took control of the race, with the latter's Lachlan Morton deciding to attack with just under 10km to go.

Nero's Jay Vine gave chase, and eventually bridged to the Australian, while Mitchelton-Scott, with Nick Schultz and Damien Howson at the head of affairs, continued to drive what had become a group of only around 18 riders with 6km left to race.

Soon afterwards, it was clear that Simon Yates was in trouble, and his teammate Howson – the overall winner of the Herald Sun Tour in 2017 – was given the green light to ride for himself.

Vine and Morton were caught with 4.5km to go, and the group continued to shed riders as the finish approached, and it was quickly down to just Howson, Hindley, Berwick and Powless.

As the four riders took turns to attack each other, shedding Powless once and for all in the process, it was left to Hindley to find the strength to outmanoeuvre, and out-power, his rivals in the push to the line.

Hindley's victory means that he keeps the race lead in the Sunweb fold following Dainese's opening-stage win, but the team will have to work hard to defend the race lead on Friday's tricky, undulating stage 3 from Bright to Wangaratta, ahead of another tough summit finish at Mount Buller for Saturday's penultimate stage.

Results

General classification