Jayco Herald SunTour: Stage 4

24-year-old Nick Schultz has won the Queen stage of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour for the first victory of his professional career, Dylan van Baarle leads overall

Jayco Herald SunTour: Stage 4

Photo courtesy of Con Chronis.

In his debut season for Mitchelton-SCOTT, 24-year-old Nick Schultz has won the Queen stage of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour for the first victory of his professional career. Capping off an aggressive race, Schultz won a two-up sprint with Dylan van Baarle (Team Sky), the pair the final survivors of an earlier breakaway that completely shook up the race.

The ride puts the Queenslander in second overall, 24seconds behind Van Baarle, with one day left to race.

Putting pressure on the jersey: Sitting fourth overall with Lucas Hamilton going into the penultimate day, Mitchelton-SCOTT went in with a clear objective to threaten the leading teams with aggression. They succeeded almost immediately, causing a big split in the peloton in the opening kilometres, with race leader Michael Woods (EF Education First) and second overall Richie Porte (Trek Factory Racing) both missing the split.

The race pulled back together, but the tension was already on as a new group of five riders went off the front and were shortly joined by three more, including Schultz, to make eight in the lead. By the first of four ascents of Arthurs Seat, the lead group had over two-minutes advantage on the bunch. As they crested the top, the breakaway was already showing small splits, with Schultz in the front four who were clearly the stronger climbers. Behind, riders were quickly losing touch from the bunch too.
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By the second time up the climb the break had reduced to five and the chase to just 20 riders, with Mitchelton-SCOTT still represented by four riders including Hamilton, Damien Howson, Dion Smith and Callum Scotson. EF Education First and Trek-Segafredo were struggling to maintain control, and losing men fast and by the top of the penultimate climb, their leaders Woods and Porte were isolated. With no one left to ride, their intensity disappeared from the chase as they accepted the inevitable loss.

With just Schultz and van Baarle remaining out in front for the final laps, the two worked together before Schultz took the lead to ride up the final climb with the Dutchman on his wheel. The Australian had just enough left to launch a sprint to claim the mountain-top win. After a stagiaire stint back in 2016, Schultz re-joined the Australian WorldTour outfit in 2019. The Jayco Herald Sun Tour is his third race this year, following the Australian Championships and Race Melbourne Cirterium. Today’s victory is his first win for the team and the first in his professional career.

Nick Schultz – Stage 4 Winner: “A lot of it was down to right time right place. The whole team was really strong, we put the GC teams under the pump right from kilometre zero. I was the lucky one to sneak into the right move that was given a bit of leeway. It was the perfect scenario, Sky had numbers and they also had Van Baarle up there who was ahead of me on GC, so they just drilled it until Dylan and I went with two and a half laps to go and from there it was all out.

“Initially I had to dig pretty deep to get across (to the break), but also Sky waited to let us across. Basically, from their point of view it was so we wouldn’t chase from behind. I worked a bit at the start, until it was clear that they were sacrificing two guys full gas for Dylan, so I just sat in the wheels like he did. It wasn’t until we were two up that I worked with him, but still again there I had to play a bit of cat and mouse to show that I was more interested in the stage win than the GC and I think that aligned with his views.

“This means the world. I have been kicking around in Spain for two years in a small Pro Continental outfit. It was a great experience but I can’t thank Gerry and the team at Mitchelton-SCOTT enough for the opportunity to be here, first of all, and to be part of a structure that allows a win like that. In 2016, I was a stagiaire in this team.”

“When I went into that role Whitey was pretty clear that there wasn’t going to be a spot for me, it was more about experience and getting to know the environment. At the end, he said not to discount anything in the future and I thought, ‘oh yeah, they say that to everyone who doesn’t get a ride on the team after their stagiaire stint’, but two years later here I am.”

Dylan Van Baarle, who has fought back from breaking his pelvis in a crash at Vuelta a España last year, heads into the final stage of the Tour with a 24 second advantage to Shultz. “That was not really the plan that I was in the break. The plan was that myself, Christian (Knees) and Luke (Rowe) were there but then I saw that EF was really suffering to close the gap on the big group then I saw Christian and Luke going and then I thought, this is the right moment.”

“Nick did an amazing last climb, he went from the bottom to the finish, at 150 to go I thought he was dying but then he kept going … at the end I was totally empty. This morning there were still two stages left so you never know what’s going to happen, if you don’t try, even if Michael (Woods) and Richie (Porte) are the best climbers in the world, you have to try and that’s what we did.”

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Stage 4 Result
1 Nicholas SCHULTZ (MTS) AUS 2h45:42
2 Dylan VAN BAARLE (SKY) NED 0
3 Chris HARPER (BLN) AUS +1:45
4 Alistair DONOHOE (ACA) AUS +2:14
5 Kenny ELISSONDE (SKY) FRA +2:14
6 Michael WOODS (EF1) CAN +2:14
7 Lucas HAMILTON (MTS) AUS +2:14
8 Richie PORTE (TFS) AUS +2:27
9 Dylan SUNDERLAND (BLN) AUS +2:39
10 Pavel SIVAKOV (SKY) RUS +2:39
11 Benjamin DYBALL (TSC) AUS +3:00
12 Daniel WHITEHOUSE (EVO) GBR +3:02
13 Samuel JENNER (AUS) AUS +3:21
14 Jason LEA (BLN) AUS +3:35
15 Nicholas WHITE (BLN) AUS +3:35
16 Damien HOWSON (MTS) AUS +4:09
17 Dion SMITH (MTS) NZL +4:46
18 Peter STETINA (TFS) USA +5:25
19 Christian KNEES (SKY) GER +5:57
20 Hayden MCCORMICK (BLN) NZL +6:36
21 Jarlinson PANTANO GOMEZ (TFS) COL +7:27
22 Jesse FEATONBY (OLI) AUS +8:15
23 Thomas HUBBARD (STG) NZL +8:24
24 Jesse EWART (TSC) AUS +8:25
25 Marcus CULEY (TSC) AUS +8:26
26 Sebastian PRESLEY (OLI) AUS +8:28
27 Oliver MARTIN (DCC) AUS +9:14
28 James WHELAN (EF1) AUS +9:48
29 Callum SCOTSON (MTS) AUS +9:54
30 Nathan ELLIOTT (AUS) AUS +10:42
31 Owain DOULL (SKY) GBR +11:04
32 Angus LYONS (OLI) AUS +12:58
33 William CLARKE (TFS) AUS +12:58
34 Dylan NEWBERY (FMP) AUS +14:07
35 Timothy CAMERON (STG) AUS +14:07
36 Brenton JONES (AUS) AUS +14:55
37 Michael VINK (STG) NZL +14:55
38 Aaron GATE (EVO) NZL +14:55
39 Zachary JOHNSON (DCC) AUS +14:55
40 Corbin STRONG (STG) NZL +14:55
41 Michael POTTER (ACA) AUS +14:58
42 Conor MURTAGH (OLI) AUS +14:58
43 Jonathon NOBLE (ACA) AUS +14:58
44 Freddy OVETT (ACA) AUS +14:58
45 Luke ROWE (SKY) GBR +14:58
46 Muhammad Zawawi AZMAN (TSC) MAS +14:58
47 Muhamad Nur Aiman MOHD ZARIFF (TSC) MAS +14:58
48 Liam WHITE (DCC) AUS +15:16
49 David WILLIAMS (AUS) AUS +15:16
50 Cyrus MONK (EVO) AUS +15:16
51 Benjamin ANDREWS (OLI) AUS +15:16
52 Koen DE KORT (TFS) NED +15:16
53 Ryan MULLEN (TFS) IRL +15:16
54 Kristoffer HALVORSEN (SKY) NOR +15:16
55 Theodore YATES (DCC) AUS +15:16
56 Harrison SWEENY (EVO) AUS +15:16
57 Robert STANNARD (MTS) AUS +15:16
58 Mitchell DOCKER (EF1) AUS +15:16
59 Patrick BURT (DCC) AUS +15:16
60 Ayden TOOVEY (BLN) AUS +15:16
61 Liam MAGENNIS (DCC) AUS +15:16
62 Luke MUDGWAY (EVO) NZL +15:53
63 Thomas SCULLY (EF1) NZL +16:27
64 Neil VAN DER PLOEG (BLN) AUS +17:14
65 Ryan CAVANAGH (STG) AUS +17:15
66 Shane ARCHBOLD (EVO) NZL +17:37
67 Sam BEWLEY (MTS) NZL +17:56
68 Muhsin Al Redha MISBAH (TSC) MAS +21:13
69 Wouter WIPPERT (EVO) NED +22:05
70 Alex FRAME (TFS) NZL +22:05
71 Daniel MCLAY (EF1) GBR +22:05
72 Craig WIGGINS (STG) AUS +22:33
73 Thomas MCFARLANE (AUS) AUS +22:49

General Classification After Stage 4
1 Dylan VAN BAARLE (SKY) NED
2 Nicholas SCHULTZ (MTS) AUS
3 Michael WOODS (EF1) CAN
4 Richie PORTE (TFS) AUS
5 Chris HARPER (BLN) AUS
6 Kenny ELISSONDE (SKY) FRA
7 Lucas HAMILTON (MTS) AUS
8 Pavel SIVAKOV (SKY) RUS
9 Dylan SUNDERLAND (BLN) AUS
10 Damien HOWSON (MTS) AUS
11 Samuel JENNER (AUS) AUS
12 Daniel WHITEHOUSE (EVO) GBR
13 Benjamin DYBALL (TSC) AUS
14 Nicholas WHITE (BLN) AUS
15 Alistair DONOHOE (ACA) AUS
16 Peter STETINA (TFS) USA
17 Dion SMITH (MTS) NZL
18 Jarlinson PANTANO GOMEZ (TFS) COL
19 Christian KNEES (SKY) GER
20 Marcus CULEY (TSC) AUS
21 Jason LEA (BLN) AUS
22 Hayden MCCORMICK (BLN) NZL
23 Jesse FEATONBY (OLI) AUS
24 Jesse EWART (TSC) AUS
25 Robert STANNARD (MTS) AUS
26 Owain DOULL (SKY) GBR
27 James WHELAN (EF1) AUS
28 Freddy OVETT (ACA) AUS
29 Sebastian PRESLEY (OLI) AUS
30 Oliver MARTIN (DCC) AUS
31 Cyrus MONK (EVO) AUS
32 Nathan ELLIOTT (AUS) AUS
33 Luke ROWE (SKY) GBR
34 Liam WHITE (DCC) AUS
35 Brenton JONES (AUS) AUS
36 Ayden TOOVEY (BLN) AUS
37 Callum SCOTSON (MTS) AUS
38 Kristoffer HALVORSEN (SKY) NOR
39 Muhammad Zawawi AZMAN (TSC) MAS
40 Muhamad Nur Aiman MOHD ZARIFF (TSC) MAS
41 William CLARKE (TFS) AUS
42 Koen DE KORT (TFS) NED
43 Ryan MULLEN (TFS) IRL
44 Benjamin ANDREWS (OLI) AUS
45 Theodore YATES (DCC) AUS
46 Thomas HUBBARD (STG) NZL
47 Conor MURTAGH (OLI) AUS
48 Mitchell DOCKER (EF1) AUS
49 Dylan NEWBERY (FMP) AUS
50 Michael VINK (STG) NZL
51 Michael POTTER (ACA) AUS
52 Liam MAGENNIS (DCC) AUS
53 Luke MUDGWAY (EVO) NZL
54 Neil VAN DER PLOEG (BLN) AUS
55 Ryan CAVANAGH (STG) AUS
56 Harrison SWEENY (EVO) AUS
57 Aaron GATE (EVO) NZL
58 Thomas SCULLY (EF1) NZL
59 Jonathon NOBLE (ACA) AUS
60 Muhsin Al Redha MISBAH (TSC) MAS
61 Corbin STRONG (STG) NZL
62 Patrick BURT (DCC) AUS
63 Craig WIGGINS (STG) AUS
64 Thomas MCFARLANE (AUS) AUS
65 Sam BEWLEY (MTS) NZL
66 David WILLIAMS (AUS) AUS
67 Angus LYONS (OLI) AUS
68 Daniel MCLAY (EF1) GBR
69 Alex FRAME (TFS) NZL
70 Timothy CAMERON (STG) AUS
71 Wouter WIPPERT (EVO) NED
72 Zachary JOHNSON (DCC) AUS
73 Shane ARCHBOLD (EVO) NZL