Walker back with a bang with stage win in Penguin

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Will Walker (Drapac Professional Cycling) has celebrated a return to racing with victory on Stage 6 of the Tour of Tasmania on Friday afternoon.

Walker was forced to abandon the Tour of the Great South Coast in August after suffering a light episode of tachycardia as he continued his comeback to competition having previously made a premature exit from the sport in 2009 due the irregularity.

The 26-year-old's victory was Drapac's third road stage victory of the tour, following on from Lachlan Norris and Darren Lapthorne's efforts earlier in the week.

"That was one of the hardest stages I’ve done, and it’s probably because I didn’t have the ideal preparation," said Walker.

"But there’s a few of us in the Drapac team who have got a lot of experience and I did a lot of racing years ago, before my comeback, and I think that helps."

A bunch of around 16 riders eventually raced to the finish line after a group of 22 had formed with 14 kilometres left to race. Former Tour of Utah stage winner Jai Crawford (Genesys Wealth Advisers) was second while Blair Windsor (Budget Forklifts) was third.

Overnight general classification leader, Walker's teammate Lachlan Norris was one of four Drapac riders in the lead bunch, ensuring that he stays ahead in the overall.

"Every one of them did their bit," said race leader Norris before mentioning it would be tough for anyone to overhaul his place on the top step with three stages remaining.

The pace was on straight out of the neutral zone with the stage's first sprint at Gawler shortly before the four-kilometre mark. The battle for the sprint jersey resumed with just two points separating leader Daniel Barry (Felt NZ) and Neil Van Der Ploeg (Search2Reain).

Ryan MacAnally (Budget Forklifts) edged ahead of both men with Van Der Ploeg making up ground by finishing second ahead of Barry meaning just one point was the difference and that's how that arm-wrestle remains heading into Saturday's seventh stage.

The first climb of the day was on the steady rise just outside of Gawler, with six riders moving slightly ahead of the peloton. Yellow jersey Lachlan Norris (Drapac) held a commanding lead in the Norske Skog King of the Mountains Championship so it was up to fifth-ranked Matthew Clark (John West Cycling) to move up the order, with Sam Horgan (Felt NZ) and Stage 4's runner-up Nathan Earle (Genesys) third over the line.

The race stayed together for a short while before a break of four moved off the front and soon gained just over 30 seconds on the peloton. Drapac's Floris Goesinnen, Blair Windsor (Budget Forklifts), Nick Aitken (Jayco - Apollo - VIS) and Horgan were at first let go but shortly before the 20km mark, were joined by Adam Phelan (Drapac), Calvin Watson (Jayco-Apollo-VIS), Campbell Flakemore (Genesys Wealth Advisers) and Luke Fetch (Search2Retain). With eight men out front, at the 23km mark the gap was 1:33 and it was increasingly clear that Drapac was chasing yet another win.

The breakaway's advantage swelled to over two minutes before a determined chase group resulted in a lead group of 22 riders forming with 14kms left to race.

Charter Mason - Drapac Development Team's Mitchell Cooper launched an attack with three kilometres to go however was caught within a kilometre of the finish line.

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