Thirty-one year old Rhys Pollock (Drapac Professional) won stage one of Jayco Herald Sun Tour after outsmarting his breakaway companions in the closing stages of the race. The stage, which comprised 174 kilometres from Whittlesea to Ballarat, got off to a quick start when a fifteen man move slipped off the front. Included in the move was Jack Bobridge (Garmin-Cervelo), who was very aggressive throughout the stage.
As most teams were represented, the gap grew quickly with the escapees given a maximum lead of seven minutes. Katusha controlled things at the head of the peloton but they laboured in vain as a more select group from the breakaway formed thanks to an attack by Bobridge.
Six men surged clear, which turned out to be the winning move of the day. Pollock, Jonas Aaen Jørgensen (Saxo Bank-SunGard), Nathan Haas (Genesys Wealth Advisers), Reinhardt janse van Rensburg (MTN-Qhubeka) and Jens Debusschere (Omega Pharma-Lotto) crossed to join Bobridge in front.
Bobridge and Pollock slipped off the front in an attempt to get away but the would be stage winner said he could feel the effort on the climb and sat up to wait for the others. With 30km’s to go Bobridge got encouragement from his team car to go at it alone until the five chases reeled him in.
With six kilometres to go and not fancying his chances in the sprint, Pollock attacked to go clear and win the opening stage of Australia’s oldest stage race. He seized the leader’s jersey in the process. Jørgensen came in for second place thirteen seconds later while Haas finished third to put another Australian on the podium.
“I am genuinely delighted. It’s just special,” Pollock said after the stage win, and before donning the leaders jersey.
“The win surprised me given the calibre of riders. I just came here to help the younger guys. But when you are in a situation like that and your team is relying on you – the only one out there – you have to give it everything.
“I was trying not to do too much work. But once they started attacking, I just made sure I was in the front when all the moves came. I knew if it came to a sprint finish I would be third or fourth, so I knew I had to do something different.”
The race for the overall will now likely be contended between to the top ten on today’s stage as the next group of riders are more than eight minutes down. Bobridge sits in fourth place overall, 23 seconds down on Pollock’s lead and could be a serious threat for the overall. He has shown a strong recovery from the knee problem which affected him in last week’s Tour of Beijing, and which caused him to drop out of that race.
There were concerns that his chances in the Australian event could have been affected but he showed today that this was not the case.
With some hilly stages to come, SaxoBank-SunGard director Brad McGee has suggested that Jørgensen, second on the stage, will be a dangerous man and have the backing of an experienced team behind him even though they lost Richie Porte today. The Tasmanian said he has failed to recover sufficiently from nasal surgery he underwent last week and abandoned the race at the 102 km mark.
Jayco Herald Sun Tour (2.1)
Stage 1:
1, Rhys Pollock (Drapac Professional Cycling) 170.4 4 hours 9 mins 23 secs
2, Jonas Aen Jorgensen (Saxo Bank-SunGard) at 13 secs
3, Hathan Haas (Genesys Wealth Advisers)
4, Jack Bobridge (Garmin-Cervelo)
5, Jens Debusschere (Omega Pharma-Lotto)
6, Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (MTN – Qhubeka) at 20 secs
7, Joseph Lewis (Australian National Team) at 2 mins 38 secs
8, Koen De Kort (Skil – Shimano) at 2 mins 39 secs
9, Tim Gudsell (Pure Black Racing) at 2 mins 41 secs
10, Bernard Sulzberger (V Australia)
11, Malcolm Rudolph (Jayco – AIS) at 7 mins 57 secs
12, Patrick Shaw (Genesys Wealth Advisers) at 8 mins 0 secs
13, Nic Hamilton (Jelly Belly p/b Kenda)
14, Mitchell Docker (Skil – Shimano)
15, Jonathon Clarke (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling)
16, Kasper Larsen Klostergaard (Saxo Bank-SunGard) at 10 mins 24 secs
17, Kenny Dehaes (Omega Pharma-Lotto)
18, Maarten Neyens (Omega Pharma-Lotto)
19, Nikolay Trusov (Katusha Team)
20, Benjamin Hill (Australian National Team)
21, John Anderson (Australian National Team)
22, Stijn Van Den Bergh (Katusha Team)
23, Cameron Wurf (Australian National Team)
24, Baden Cooke (Saxo Bank-SunGard)
25, Aaron Kemps (V Australia)
26, Luke Roberts (Saxo Bank-SunGard)
27, Cameron Peterson (V Australia)
28, Michael Freiberg (V Australia)
29, Richard Lang (Jayco – AIS)
30, William Dugan (Team Type 1 – Sanofi)
31, Olivier Kaisen (Omega Pharma-Lotto)
32, Adam Hansen (Omega Pharma-Lotto)
33, Stuart Shaw (Drapac Professional Cycling)
34, Patrick Lane (Jayco – AIS)
35, James Williamson (Pure Black Racing)
36, Steele Von Hoff (Genesys Wealth Advisers)
37, Arran Brown (MTN – Qhubeka)
38, Bradley Potigieter (MTN – Qhubeka)
39, Michael Cupitt (Budget Forklifts)
40, David Tanner (Saxo Bank SunGard)
41, Dylan Girdlestone (MTN – Qhubeka)
42, Egor Silin (Katusha Team)
43, Valery Valynin (Russian National Team)
44, Artem Ovechkin (Katusha Team)
45, Yoshimitsu Tsuji (Utsunomiya Blitzen)
46, Morgan Schmitt (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling)
47, Will Dickeson (Jelly Belly p/b Kenda)
48, Hilton Clarke (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling)
49, Thierry Huppond (Skil – Shimano)
50, Marcel Kittel (Skil – Shimano)
51, Glen Chadwick (Pure Black Racing)
52, Brian Mcleod (Budget Forklifts)
53, Yukihiro Doi (Skil – Shimano)
54, Jonathan Cantwell (V Australia)
55, Roman Van Uden (Pure Black Racing)
56, Michael Northey (Pure Black Racing)
57, Darren Rolfe (V Australia)
58, Nathan Earle (Genesys Wealth Advisers)
59, Chris Jongewaard (Budget Forklifts)
60, Boy Van Poppel (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling)
61, Dennis Van Niekerk (MTN – Qhubeka)
62, Peter Herzig (Budget Forklifts)
63, Jason Spencer (Budget Forklifts)
64, Matthew Llyod (Australian National Team)
65, Charles Huff (Jelly Belly p/b Kenda)
66, Shem Rodger (Pure Black Racing)
67, Vladimir Isaychev (Katusha Team)
68, Benjamin King (Team Type 1 – Sanofi)
69, Alexander Khatuntsev (Russian National Team)
70, Loto Petrus (MTN – Qhubeka)
71, Alexander Porsev (Katusha Team)
72, Adam Phelan (Drapac Professional Cycling)
73, Alex Carver (Jayco – AIS)
74, Luke Davison (Budget Forklifts)
75, Thomas Palmer (Drapac Professional Cycling)
76, Darren Lapthorne (Drapac Professional Cycling)
77, Alastair Loutit (Jelly Belly p/b Kenda)
78, Lachlan Norris (Drapac Professional Cycling)
79, Aaron Donnelly (Jayco – AIS)
80, Nick Aitken (Jayco – AIS)
81, Cameron Meyer (Garmin-Cervelo)
82, Andrea Grendene (Team Type 1 – Sanofi)
83, Alexandere Geniez (Skil – Shimano)
84, Sho Hatsuyama (Utsunomiya Blitzen)
85, Scott Stewart (Team Type 1 – Sanofi)
86, Yoshimasa Hirose (Utsunomiya Blitzen)
87, Wesley Sulzberger (Australian National Team)
88, Jacob Keough (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling)
89, Kenneth Hanson (Jelly Belly p/b Kenda)
90, Matvey Zubov (Russian National Team)
91, Alexey Markov (Russian National Team)
92, Alexander Serov (Russian National Team)
93, Travis Meyer (Garmin-Cervelo)
94, Anthony Giacoppo (Genesys Wealth Advisers)
95, Brett Lancaster (Garmin-Cervelo)
96, Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervelo)
DNF: Richie Porte (Saxo Bank-SunGard)
DNF: Adrian Hegyvary (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling)
DNF: Fabio Calabria (Team Type 1 – Sanofi)
DNF: Kyle Marwood (Genesys Wealth Advisers)
DNF: Nikolay Zhurkin (Russian National Team)
DNF: Akira Kakinuma (Utsunomiya Blitzen)
DNF: Atsuhito Wakasugi (Utsunomiya Blitzen)
Intermediate sprint 1:
1, Hathan Haas (Genesys Wealth Advisers) 6 pts
2, Jack Bobridge (Garmin-Cervelo) 4
3, Patrick Shaw (Genesys Wealth Advisers) 2
Intermediate sprint 2:
1, Hathan Haas (Genesys Wealth Advisers) 6 pts
2, Rhys Pollock (Drapac Professional Cycling) 4
3, Jonas Aen Jorgensen (Saxo Bank-SunGard) 2
KOM prime 1:
1, Bernard Sulzberger (V Australia) 6 pts
2, Hathan Haas (Genesys Wealth Advisers) 4
3, Nic Hamilton (Jelly Belly p/b Kenda) 2
KOM prime 2:
1, Rhys Pollock (Drapac Professional Cycling) 6 pts
2, Jack Bobridge (Garmin-Cervelo) 4
3, Hathan Haas (Genesys Wealth Advisers) 2
Teams:
1, Genesys Wealth Advisers, 12 hours 46 mins 46 secs
2, Drapac Cycling, at 2 mins 11 secs
3, Omega Pharma-Lotto, at 2 mins 24 secs
4, Saxo Bank Sungard
5, Team Garmin-Cervelo
6, Skil Shimano, at 2 mins 26 secs
7, MTN Qhubeka, at 2 mins 31 secs
8, Australia National Team, at 4 mins 49 secs
9, V Australia, at 4 mins 52 secs
10, Pureblack Racing
11, Team Jayco – AIS, at 10 mins 8 secs
12, United Health Care Pro Cycling, at 10 mins 11 secs
13, Jelly Belly Cycling Team
14, Katusha Team, at 12 mins 35 secs
15, Team Budget Forklifts
16, Team Type 1 – Sanofi
17, Russian National Team
18, Utsunomiya Blitzen