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Orica-GreenEDGE’s early-season drought has turned into a deluge over two days at the Herald Sun Tour.
Their young gun Caleb Ewan scored his first official win as a professional rider, taking out Friday’s second stage, and Cameron Meyer retained the overall lead.
But it was a painful day for Drapac rider Brenton Jones, who crashed in the finishing sprint and might be in doubt to start stage three of the Jayco Tour.
Ewan dominated the end to the 117.3km stage from Bendigo to Nagambie and had time to celebrate as he crossed the finish line.
The 20-year-old started his first full season as a WorldTour rider by winning three of the four races early last month in the Bay Classic series.
But those races do not feature world ranking points, unlike the Tour.
Until Meyer won stage one on Thursday to take the race lead, Ewan’s Classic wins had been the only successes for a team used to dominating the domestic races in January.
Now the pressure is off the only WorldTour team in the Tour and they are well on the way to Meyer winning the Tour title at Sunday’s crucial Arthurs Seat stage.
He retained his four-second lead over New Zealander Joe Cooper (Avanti)
Meyer said it was a stressful start to the day, with rival teams repeatedly attacking.
But a three-rider breakaway was never able to gain much time and, with 10km left, it was down to the expected bunch finish.
He finished safely in the bunch, while Ewan was glad to stay out of trouble after hearing Jones crash behind him.
“We were getting challenged coming down the back straight here, but our guys were still pretty fresh so we hit out into the last corner and I came around in good position and then won from there,” Ewan said.
“When I was crossing the line, it didn’t sound too good, so I was pretty happy to be in front of that one (the crash).”
Jones, who won last year’s Bay Classic series, went down after tangling with friend and Budget Forklifts rider Sam Witmitz.
An official photo of the finish showed Jones sliding along the ground.
He said it was “just a racing incident”.
Jones was initially given sixth place, but judges gave him fifth after reviewing footage of the finish and ruling he was still attached to his bike as he painfully slid the 20m on his back.
“The ribcage and chest and back and neck are quite sore obviously from the hard impact, so we’ll see how they pull up tonight and in the morning,” Jones added.
“Now it’s just about recovery and getting back. I know the form’s good.”
Jones was third in Wednesday night’s prologue time trial.
The race continues on Saturday with the 146.7km third stage from Mitchelton Winery to Nagambie.
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