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2016 Jayco Herald Sun Tour: Stage 2 preview

SImon Gerrans of Orica. (Tim Renowden)
Roar Guru
4th February, 2016
1

After a punishing finale to the stage yesterday, the 144 kilometres of Stage 2 of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour from Yara Glen to Moe will be much of the same.

If you have a quick glance at the stage profile for today’s stage you will see it as being fairly flat, but there is an uncategorised sting in the tail which will disrupt many of the sprinters’ hopes.

The riders start in Yara Glen and travel 34 kilometres before the first sprint of the day in Yarra Junction. Another 20 kilometres down the road is the summit of the first climb of the day, a category three climb in Powelltown which averages 5.4 per cent over four kilometres.

Another 30 kilometres down the road is the second of the climbs on today’s stage, with the climb of Vesper Hill on the outskirts of Noojee being a second category climb of four kilometres at around 7.5 per cent. It is then a short descent to the final categorised climb of the day, a category three test at Fumina South, which is much like the first climb in terms of gradient and length.

At this stage of the race, the riders will still have 50 kilometres left to race, and now face a gradual descent all the way to the finishing point in Moe. Before the finish though there are still two obstacles to be face by the riders. One is the final intermediate sprint through the finishing point at Moe with just 15 kilometres to go, and the other is a short and steep uncategorised climb with less than 10 kilometres to go.

The riders will make a right hand turn onto Becks Bridge Road and be faced with two kilometres of flat roads before a final drive up to the top of the road of eight per cent for one kilometres. This will be a great launching pad for attacks, but a punchy sprinter like Caleb Ewan may be able to get over it in a reduced field.

After his win yesterday, a Team Sky win has to be on the cards – but which one of their riders will come out on top? Both Chris Froome and Peter Kennaugh were superb yesterday and showed the big difference in the level of riders which are riding this race.

Dion Smith showed yesterday the promise he started to show American cycling fans in the back half of last year in the Tour of Utah and USA Pro Challenge. The young New Zealand rider registered top 15 performances on general classifications in both those races, and showed that he had a fairly punchy quick in some of the finishing sprints.

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After winning the bunch quick yesterday to secure third place, he will be looking for another podium place today.

Caleb Ewan narrowly finished second in the prologue, and will be looking to rack up another win for the season. While the last 10 kilometres with the difficult final climb offers a potential hurdle for him, he has the potential and the form to get over this climb and take the victory.

Though, other teams will be working against him to blow the race the shreds up the climb to isolate and drop Ewan.

Other riders to watch include Jack Haig and Damien Howson (Orica-GreenEDGE), Jack Bobridge and Julian Berard (Trek), Nathan Earle and Adam Phelan (Drapac), Johnathon Clarke (United HealthCare), Damiano Cunego (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Joe Cooper (Avanti), and Anthony Giacoppo (Avanti).

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