Groves sprints to victory on stage 3 of Herald Sun Tour

Image 1 of 12

Mitchelton-Scott's Kaden Groves won the bunch-sprint finish to stage 3 of the Herald Sun Tour in Wangaratta, Victoria, on Friday, beating stage 1 winner Alberto Dainese (Sunweb) and Israel Start-Up Nation's Mihkel Räim.

Dainese's Sunweb teammate Jai Hindley finished safely in the bunch to retain his overall lead by four seconds from Mitchelton-Scott's Damien Howson and six seconds over St George Continental's Sebastian Berwick.

"We knew that EF Pro Cycling were going to be strong; they have a really strong team here, and had Jimmy [Whelan] in the break, so they never had to chase today," Groves told reporters after his stage win.

"I think I came around the last corner in maybe sixth wheel, or something, but, with 400 metres to go, I was confident that I could come over the top," he said, having overpowered EF's Moreno Hofland and Räim in the final couple of hundred metres, with Dainese coming through to take second.

"It was a pretty hard stage today," Groves added. "It was the stage I'd picked for the week, and I'm not climbing too badly at the moment, so I was pretty happy with the hard pace on the first climb, and I made the front selection.

"After that, Sunweb were really marking us out of the race – and not letting us go in the break – so we had to chase all day," he explained. "After the final climb before the finish, I managed to drop some of the guys, and I had 'Yatesy' and Cam Meyer riding on the front. Although it all came back together, I think I was one of the freshest at the finish."

Having Simon Yates – the team's leader who lost six minutes on the final climb to Falls Creek on stage 2 – pulling on the front in the closing kilometres to set Groves up for the sprint was, the 21-year-old Australian admitted, "pretty special".

"It just shows how much of a good teammate he is, and that all the guys are super happy to ride for each other. I think that's why the team has so much success, too," Groves said.

How it unfolded

An uphill start to stage 3 from Bright to Wangaratta saw the race split apart on the first KOM climb, where Team BridgeLane's Sam Hill led over the top. By the bottom of the descent, with 36km covered, a group of around 55 riders had come together, which included race leader Jai Hindley (Sunweb).

Going clear over the top of the day's second climb after 60km, eight riders – Michael Rice (ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast), Carter Turnbull (Kordamentha Australian National Team), James Whelan (EF Pro Cycling), Israel Start-Up Nation's Guillaume Boivin, James Oram (Black Spoke Pro Cycling Academy), Ben Hill (Team BridgeLane), and Aevolo pair Charles-Etienne Chretien and Tyler Stites – were allowed to build up a lead of just over four minutes with 100km of the day's 178.1km stage to go.

Whelan went into the stage 1:11 down on race leader Hindley, and became the race's virtual leader on the road, and with 87km left to race, he and Turnbull decided to attack their breakaway companions. While first Hill and Boivin, and eventually the two Aevolo riders, Stites and Chretien, were able to join them, the move served to drop Oram and Rice, and the six remaining riders' lead was built back up to 4:30 with 67km to go.

Inside the last 35km, Stites was no longer able to follow the pace, and then, almost immediately afterwards, Hill, who was in his third break in three days, was forced to pull over at the side of the road suffering with severe cramp – just before the final intermediate sprint in Glenrowan, where he was hoping to try to take more points to secure his green jersey.

The leaders' advantage started to plummet as the sprinters' and GC contenders' teams formed at the front of the bunch, and while Whelan's vitual leadership slipped away, the quartet – led by Boivin and Whelan – still had just over a minute at the start of the final KOM climb with 18km to race.

After a strong ride in the break, Turnbull dropped away on the climb, and, with 12km to go, the remaining trio was caught by a group led by Mitchelton-Scott, which had managed to go clear of a second group on the climb, with Sunweb sprinter Dainese having missed the boat.

However, it all came back together inside the final 10km, and it was Mitchelton-Scott who came out on top when it came to delivering their sprinter to the line.

Results

General classification