Sun Tour: Stage 2 – Win for Rowe

Welsh boy Luke Rowe has won stage 2 of the Herald Sun Tour with a solo effort – Conor Dunne 2nd, Steve Lampier 4th, Ian Bibby 9th on stage

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Sun Tour: Stage 2 – Win for Rowe

Photos: Con Chronis

Team Sky’s Luke Rowe has earned some redemption for Team Sky, claiming a Stage 2 solo victory at the 2017 Jayco Herald Sun Tour, on a drama-filled 165.6km day of racing.

Photos: Con Chronis – victory for Welshboy Luke Rowe

Rowe, part of a 10-man breakaway which dominated proceedings, stayed away in spite of the tough climb into Stanley within the last 20km heading to the finish in Beechworth. Conor Dunne (Aqua Blue Sport) was second, 33 seconds in arrears while American Tanner Putt (UnitedHealthcare) was third a further 23 seconds back. His attack on the group came just ahead of the start of the KOM, and the break instantly fractured.

In what was a chaotic final 20km, Damien Howson (ORICA-Scott) was able to retain his overall lead with no change to the top three riders. Cameron Meyer (KordaMentha Australian National Team) finishing in sixth place for the stage (+1min08sec) moved into fourth on the general classification, while defending champion Chris Froome (Team Sky) remains at 1min12sec behind Howson but moves down to sixth overall.

Photos: Con Chronis – Great result for the UK with Conor Dunne in second and Luke Rowe the stage winner

Rowe, whose win on Friday adds to Team Sky’s haul for the 2017 Jayco Herald Sun Tour after Danny van Poppel claimed honours in Wednesday night’s prologue said that the victory was “a long time coming” nearly five years on from his last taste of individual success.

“We said at the end of last year that it was about time I won something,” the Welshman explained. “It’s kind of surreal putting your hands in the air again and going through the winning motions when you spend most of your time working for others. When you get half an opportunity you’ve got to take it and that’s exactly what I did today.”

“Last night I already said to Brett that we should try and go for a breakaway so we assigned myself and Yogi (Stannard) to go in the break so it was always the plan to go. The whole day I was wary of a few guys and there were some excellent climbers in the break and it was just a case of trying to use them up to the best of my advantage and I opened up a decent gap straight away so I enjoyed the last 20km solo”.

Luke Rowe puts the power down in the Aussie heat. Photos: Con Chronis

The win represented Rowe’s first victory since taking a stage of the 2012 Tour of Britain and the 26-year-old chuckled: “It’s been a while, it’s been an ongoing joke. I haven’t won anything for a long time. “I kind of forgot how to do it all so it’s nice to get the hands in the air.”

Rowe won’t have long to savour today’s win. He’ll be back on domestique duties for van Poppel on Saturday with a sprint finish expected into Mitchelton Winery.

“Back to duties,” the 26-year-old confirmed. “It doesn’t last for a long this fame and glamour. Back to the grind tomorrow and I’ll box on with Danny and we’ll try and drop him off in the perfect place.”

Another top drawer ride from Steve Lampier in 5th on the stage. Photos: Con Chronis

The story of the race –

A 10-man breakaway was finally able leave to the confines of the peloton after 45km of racing, the stage having departed from Mount Beauty in the shadow of Falls Creek.

Rowe, one of the protagonists for the move, was joined by Dunne, Putt, Tim Ariesen (Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij), Steve Lampier (JLT Condor), Robbie Hucker (IsoWhey Sport Swisswellness), Josh Taylor, Jake Kauffmann (NSWIS), Nick Katsonis (Drapac Pat’s Veg), and Alexei Tcatevich (Gazprom-Rusvelo).

The move allowed Kauffmann easy access to the two intermediate sprints and so the former rugby union player was able to retain his lead in the points classification and his time in the Metro Trains green jersey will continue for another day.

The gap maxed out at 5:20 and as the peloton reached the 25km to go mark, the breakaway’s advantage was still at 4:14. It was clear that this was a day where they stood every chance of not being consumed by the efforts of their chasers.

Rowe’s move came within sight of the start of the KOM, with Taylor the first man to be dropped. The Team Sky rider was shortly followed by Kauffman. Dunne, Putt and Katsonis with the remnants of the breakaway splintering.

Photos: Con Chronis  – Rowe launches …

With 10km to go, the gap sat at just over a minute but chaos was unfolding further back with Howson suffering a front wheel puncture. Teammate Mitch Docker switched out his for the team leader before a huge effort ensued to get the yellow jersey back into contention. With Howson 47 seconds behind Froome, ORICA-Scott swung into recovery mode, with Robert Power and Michael Hepburn delivering Howson to Simon Gerrans, who as someone considered a genuine threat for the stage, was forced to disregard any personal ambitions.

It was also at this point that there is some conjecture over whether Froome continued to attack or whether he decided to back off knowing Howson was in trouble in a show of good sportsmanship.

Photos: Con Chronis

“For us behind in the bunch we obviously wanted to shake things up on the general classification,” Froome explained. “We hit the climb hard. Halfway up we heard that Howson had punctured but by then the race was in full swing and there was no stopping.”

Howson said that it was just a case of “bad luck,” and was hopeful he had used up his quota ahead of the final two stages. “It’s part of bike racing,” he said. “We’ve seen it in the past and I don’t think it’s going to be the last time. I don’t really know what happened today. All I can control is my own race.”

Howson also described the efforts of teammate Esteban Chaves to help him catch the Froome group with 500 metres left to race as ‘heroic’ but could only laugh after he then dropped his chain 200 metres later, thankfully without further issue. Howson crossed the finish line with his right arm around the Colombian.

“For him to turn the screws today and give everything he had just to retain the yellow jersey in the Herald Sun Tour, I can’t thank him enough,” he said. “On top of him there’s the full team. You cannot fault any of their efforts today.”

Rowe also had help to get to the finish, grateful for the tenacity of Putt nearing the end of the KOM. “There was a moment where I was sat on the UHC guy [Putt] and there was a few guys behind and I kind of just used him and the gap stayed at a couple of hundred metres … I used him for about a kilometre,” Rowe said. “I knew the last bit was quite steep and so I hit it with a kilometre, a kilometre and a half to go and it was home and dry from there.”
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Stage 2 Result

1 Luke Rowe (Sky) Gbr 4h08:23
2 Conor Dunne (Abs) Irl 33
3 Tanner Putt (Uhc) Usa 56
4 Robbie Hucker (Iws) Aus 57
5 Steve Lampier (Jlt) Gbr 57
6 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Aus +1:12
7 Martijn Tusveld (Rnl) Ned +1:17
8 Janier Alexis Acevedo Calle (Uhc) Col +1:17
9 Ian Bibby (Jlt) Gbr +1:17
10 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Aus +1:17
11 Alistair Donohoe (Atg) Aus +1:17
12 Nathan Earle (Aus) Aus +1:17
13 Dylan Sunderland (Nis) Aus +1:17
14 Ivan Savitckii (Gaz) Rus +1:17
15 Cyrus Monk (Dpv) Aus +1:17
16 Aleksei Tcatevich (Gaz) Rus +1:17
17 Edmund Bradbury (Jlt) Gbr +1:17
18 Lachlan Norris (Uhc) Aus +1:17
19 Timothy Roe (Iws) Aus +1:17
20 Jonathan Clarke (Uhc) Aus +1:17
21 Christopher Froome (Sky) Gbr +1:17
22 Jason Christie (Nzl) Nzl +1:17
23 Damien Howson (Ors) Aus +1:17
24 Michael Storer (Aus) Aus +1:17
25 Jhoan Esteban Chaves Rubio (Ors) Col +1:17
26 Tim Ariesen (Rnl) Ned +1:17
27 Kenny Elissonde (Sky) Fra +1:17
28 Pavel Brutt (Gaz) Rus +1:17
29 Benjamin Dyball (Stg) Aus +1:17
30 Jai Hindley (Aus) Aus +1:17
31 Jesse Featonby (Dpv) Aus +1:17
32 James Oram (Nzl) Nzl +1:17
33 Cameron Bayly (Iws) Aus +1:17
34 Sebastian Henao Gomez (Sky) Col +1:17
35 Nicholas Katsonis (Dpv) Aus +1:25
36 Mario Vogt (Atg) Ger +3:50
37 Jacob Kauffmann (Nis) Aus +3:50 6
38 Marcelo Felipe (7rp) Phi +3:50
39 Aaron Gate (Abs) Nzl +3:54
40 Scott Bowden (Iws) Aus +3:54
41 Daniel Fitter (Nis) Aus +3:54
42 Jesse Ewart (7rp) Aus +3:54
43 Jesper Asselman (Rnl) Ned +3:54
44 Travis Mccabe (Uhc) Usa +3:54
45 Sjoerd Van Ginneken (Rnl) Ned +3:54
46 Taco Van Der Hoorn (Rnl) Ned +3:54
47 Lawrence Warbasse (Abs) Usa +3:54
48 Sam Dobbs (Nzl) Nzl +6:03
49 Alexandr Shushemoin (Atg) Kaz +6:03
50 Timothy Guy (Atg) Aus +6:03
51 Michael Hepburn (Ors) Aus +6:03
52 Rustom Lim (7rp) Phi +6:03
53 Nick Van Der Lijke (Rnl) Ned +6:03
54 Jeroen Meijers (Rnl) Ned +6:03
55 James Gullen (Jlt) Gbr +6:03
56 Sergey Nikolaev (Gaz) Rus +6:03
57 Michel Kreder (Abs) Ned +6:03
58 Alistair Slater (Jlt) Gbr +6:03
59 Brad Evans (Dpv) Nzl +6:03
60 Taylor Gunman (Nzl) Nzl +6:03
61 Guy Kalma (Atg) Nzl +6:03
62 Simon Gerrans (Ors) Aus +6:03
63 Greg Henderson (Uhc) Nzl +6:03
64 Mark John Lexer Galedo (7rp) Phi +6:31
65 Artur Ershov (Gaz) Rus +6:31
66 Ian Stannard (Sky) Gbr +6:31
67 Drew Morey (Dpv) Aus +6:31
68 Edgar Nohales Neto (7rp) Esp +6:31
69 Mathew Ross (Dpv) Aus +6:31
70 Oliver Kent-Spark (Dpv) Aus +6:31
71 Calvin Watson (Abs) Aus +6:31
72 Samuel Jenner (Aus) Aus +6:31
73 Danny Van Poppel (Sky) Ned +6:31
74 Anthony Giacoppo (Iws) Aus +6:31
75 James Fouche (Nzl) Nzl +6:31
76 Brodie Talbot (Stg) Aus +6:31
77 Patrick Sharpe (Stg) Aus +6:31
78 Ayden Toovey (Nis) Aus +6:31
79 Joseph Cooper (Iws) Nzl +6:31
80 Jesse Kerrison (Iws) Aus +9:16
81 Brenton Jones (Jlt) Aus +9:16
82 Alex Frame (Jlt) Nzl +9:16
83 Matthew Zenovich (Nzl) Nzl +10:31
84 Rob Power (Ors) Aus +10:31
85 Nikolay Trusov (Gaz) Rus +10:31
86 Josh Berry (7rp) Aus +14:51
87 Philip Martz (Atg) Usa +14:51
88 Darcy Ellerm-Norton (Stg) Nzl +14:51
89 Kaden Groves (Stg) Aus +14:51
90 Thomas Hubbard (Stg) Nzl +14:51
91 Benjamin Hill (Atg) Aus +14:51
92 Mitch Docker (Ors) Aus +14:51
93 Sam Bewley (Ors) Nzl +14:51
94 Craig Evers (7rp) Aus +14:51
95 Peter Koning (Abs) Ned +14:51
96 Leigh Howard (Abs) Aus +14:51
97 Jay Dutton (Stg) Aus +14:51
98 Alex Wohler (Nis) Aus +14:51
99 Adrian Hegyvary (Uhc) Usa +14:51
100 Hamish Schreurs (Nzl) Nzl +14:51
101 Angus Lyons (Aus) Aus +14:51
102 Joshua Taylor (Nis) Aus +14:51
103 Kirill Sveshnikov (Gaz) Rus +14:51

• Average Speed Of The Winner: 40.0 Km/H
• Number Of Starters: 103

General Classification After Stage 2
1 Damien Howson (Ors) Aus 8h46:12
2 Jai Hindley (Aus) Aus 38
3 Kenny Elissonde (Sky) Fra 53
4 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Aus +1:08
5 Michael Storer (Aus) Aus +1:10
6 Christopher Froome (Sky) Gbr +1:12
7 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Aus +1:13
8 Nathan Earle (Aus) Aus +1:15
9 Jhoan Esteban Chaves Rubio (Ors) Col +1:15
10 Timothy Roe (Iws) Aus +1:17
11 Ian Bibby (Jlt) Gbr +1:26
12 Janier Alexis Acevedo Calle (Uhc) Col +1:28
13 Edmund Bradbury (Jlt) Gbr +1:35
14 Jonathan Clarke (Uhc) Aus +1:40
15 Sebastian Henao Gomez (Sky) Col +1:43
16 Cameron Bayly (Iws) Aus +1:45
17 Jesse Featonby (Dpv) Aus +1:56
18 Lachlan Norris (Uhc) Aus +1:57
19 Alistair Donohoe (Atg) Aus +2:04
20 Benjamin Dyball (Stg) Aus +2:30
21 Dylan Sunderland (Nis) Aus +3:43
22 Pavel Brutt (Gaz) Rus +3:44
23 Jason Christie (Nzl) Nzl +4:51
24 Martijn Tusveld (Rnl) Ned +5:39
25 Scott Bowden (Iws) Aus +5:59
26 Steve Lampier (Jlt) Gbr +6:46
27 Lawrence Warbasse (Abs) Usa +7:03
28 Robbie Hucker (Iws) Aus +7:07
29 Daniel Fitter (Nis) Aus +7:16
30 Simon Gerrans (Ors) Aus +7:27
31 Tanner Putt (Uhc) Usa +8:03
32 James Oram (Nzl) Nzl +8:24
33 Mario Vogt (Atg) Ger +10:04
34 Jesse Ewart (7rp) Aus +10:23
35 Cyrus Monk (Dpv) Aus +10:35
36 Sam Dobbs (Nzl) Nzl +11:23
37 Luke Rowe (Sky) Gbr +12:47
38 Samuel Jenner (Aus) Aus +13:05
39 Sjoerd Van Ginneken (Rnl) Ned +14:14
40 Timothy Guy (Atg) Aus +15:26
41 Drew Morey (Dpv) Aus +15:49
42 Greg Henderson (Uhc) Nzl +16:22
43 James Gullen (Jlt) Gbr +16:25
44 Conor Dunne (Abs) Irl +16:34
45 Brodie Talbot (Stg) Aus +16:51
46 Artur Ershov (Gaz) Rus +16:53
47 Taco Van Der Hoorn (Rnl) Ned +16:54
48 Jesper Asselman (Rnl) Ned +16:59
49 Nicholas Katsonis (Dpv) Aus +17:34
50 Alexandr Shushemoin (Atg) Kaz +18:38
51 Michael Hepburn (Ors) Aus +19:30
52 Calvin Watson (Abs) Aus +19:34
53 Jacob Kauffmann (Nis) Aus +19:40
54 Travis Mccabe (Uhc) Usa +21:13
55 Alistair Slater (Jlt) Gbr +21:18
56 Tim Ariesen (Rnl) Ned +21:58
57 Aleksei Tcatevich (Gaz) Rus +22:02
58 Mitch Docker (Ors) Aus +22:04
59 Brad Evans (Dpv) Nzl +22:05
60 Jeroen Meijers (Rnl) Ned +22:07
61 Nick Van Der Lijke (Rnl) Ned +22:13
62 Sergey Nikolaev (Gaz) Rus +22:15
63 Rustom Lim (7rp) Phi +22:19
64 Oliver Kent-Spark (Dpv) Aus +22:41
65 Ivan Savitckii (Gaz) Rus +23:20
66 Rob Power (Ors) Aus +24:04
67 Joseph Cooper (Iws) Nzl +24:12
68 Edgar Nohales Neto (7rp) Esp +24:23
69 Marcelo Felipe (7rp) Phi +24:40
70 Aaron Gate (Abs) Nzl +25:53
71 Guy Kalma (Atg) Nzl +26:44
72 Michel Kreder (Abs) Ned +26:47
73 Taylor Gunman (Nzl) Nzl +26:48
74 Anthony Giacoppo (Iws) Aus +27:06
75 Ayden Toovey (Nis) Aus +27:09
76 Patrick Sharpe (Stg) Aus +27:14
77 Angus Lyons (Aus) Aus +28:24
78 James Fouche (Nzl) Nzl +28:33
79 Ian Stannard (Sky) Gbr +28:36
80 Mark John Lexer Galedo (7rp) Phi +28:48
81 Brenton Jones (Jlt) Aus +29:49
82 Benjamin Hill (Atg) Aus +30:54
83 Alex Frame (Jlt) Nzl +31:11
84 Nikolay Trusov (Gaz) Rus +31:12
85 Mathew Ross (Dpv) Aus +31:45
86 Matthew Zenovich (Nzl) Nzl +32:37
87 Jesse Kerrison (Iws) Aus +34:13
88 Danny Van Poppel (Sky) Ned +35:28
89 Adrian Hegyvary (Uhc) Usa +35:31
90 Peter Koning (Abs) Ned +35:32
91 Joshua Taylor (Nis) Aus +35:32
92 Hamish Schreurs (Nzl) Nzl +35:33
93 Kaden Groves (Stg) Aus +35:34
94 Leigh Howard (Abs) Aus +36:48
95 Philip Martz (Atg) Usa +37:42
96 Josh Berry (7rp) Aus +38:24
97 Sam Bewley (Ors) Nzl +39:16
98 Darcy Ellerm-Norton (Stg) Nzl +39:52
99 Craig Evers (7rp) Aus +45:51
100 Kirill Sveshnikov (Gaz) Rus +49:48
101 Alex Wohler (Nis) Aus +50:56
102 Thomas Hubbard (Stg) Nzl +51:12
103 Jay Dutton (Stg) Aus +51:13
Dnf Tom Robinson (Nis) Aus

Stage Awards Bicyle Beer Most Aggressive Rider – 5 Luke Rowe (Sky)

Teams Stage Result
1 Team Sky (5, 1, 3) 12h27:43
2 Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team (47, 41, 46) 56
3 Jlt Condor (64, 61, 62) 57
4 Isowhey Sports Swisswellness (93, 97, 94) 57
5 Korda Mentha Real Estate Australian National Team (131, 133, 132) +1:12
6 Gazprom – Rusvelo (35, 34, 31) +1:17
7 Drapac Pat’s Veg Holistic Development Team (105, 107, 101) +1:25
8 Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij (26, 21, 22) +3:54
9 Aqua Blue Sport (57, 54, 53) +5:47
10 Orica – Scott (13, 12, 17) +6:03
11 New Zealand National Team (147, 142, 145) +6:03
12 Nsw Institute Of Sport (122, 121, 124) +6:27
13 Attaque Team Gusto (87, 84, 82) +8:36
14 7 Eleven Roadbike Philippines (72, 75, 73) +11:13
15 St George Continental Cycling Team (111, 115, 114) +11:45

State Government Victoria Teams General Classification After Stage 2
1 Team Sky 26h20:52
2 Korda Mentha Real Estate Australian National Team 29
3 Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling Team +2:13
4 Isowhey Sports Swisswellness +3:32
5 Orica – Scott +6:14
6 Jlt Condor +7:17
7 Drapac Pat’s Veg Holistic Development Team +20:51
8 New Zealand National Team +22:20
9 Attaque Team Gusto +25:02
10 Nsw Institute Of Sport +28:32
11 Gazprom – Rusvelo +30:28
12 Roompot – Nederlandse Loterij +31:51
13 Aqua Blue Sport +38:05
14 St George Continental Cycling Team +44:15
15 7 Eleven Roadbike Philippines +51:59

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