Giacoppo prevails on tough stage to Casterton

Anthony Giacoppo (Huon Salmon – Genesys Wealth Advisers) has won his second stage of the day at the Tour of the Great South Coast, finishing top of a hotly-contested afternoon 92km stage into Casterton. The West Australia had earlier won the morning criterium in Portland.

Euride Racing's Alex Edmondson finished second, with Shannon Johnson (CharterMason Drapac) crossing the line in third.

Sam Horgan (Budget Forklifts) will wear the yellow leader's jersey for another stage with his lead not threatened by the events. The New Zealander finished in the second group on the road, four seconds in arrears of Giacoppo. Two seconds picked up at the Sandford Pub sprint, sees Horgan extend his lead by a further two seconds from how he started the day, with Alex Morgan (Jayco/Apollo VIS) 24 seconds back.

Giacoppo conceded he was out of GC contention and would not be taking back-to-back overall victories, but said he was happy to have claimed two wins on the second day of the tour.

"I came in with a goal of trying to get three stage wins and now I'm well on my way," he said. "I've had a slow start to the year - I had a bit of illness and a few injuries which slowed me down a little, so it's good to get some form back."

It took some time for the first break of the day to get established and finally, just after the 30km mark, four riders slipped off the front and quickly gained an 18 second advantage. Two others, Andrew Roe (Euride Racing) and Ryan MacAnally (Polygon) joined the quartet shortly after.

Crashes marred the race at the 53km mark and that spelled the end for the breakaway. As the cat.2 climb at Ridge Road approached, a new escape had formed with riders off the front keen to create as big of a gap as possible with a mostly downhill run into Casterton for the final 20km. A brutal headwind on the climb split the riders across the road and with 10km to go, a front group of around 30 riders held a slight advantage.

The conditions offered no respite and with three kilometres remaining a lead group of 50 had formed to contest the finale.

Horgan said it was a tough day, made easier by his Budget Forklifts teammates.

"It's really about safety in numbers," he said. "Our strategy is to stick together and that's what we did today."

The Tour of the Great South Coast continues on Friday with another double stage day, featuring a 40km criterium around Port Fairy and then a 67km road stage between Port Fairy and Hawksdale.

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