Having safely navigated the bunch sprint finish on stage 3 of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour, Peter Kennaugh and Chris Froome will start tomorrow's final and queen stage of the race sitting first and second on the general classification with just 13 seconds between them. Their nearest rival, Jack Bobridge (Trek-Segafredo), is currently at 31 seconds to Kennaugh while Jack Haig (Orica-GreenEdge) is at 48 seconds.
While there are 10 bonus seconds on the line for the stage winner, it is unlikely Kennaugh and Froome would concede the necessary time for the likes of Bobridge and Haig to jump frog them into one and two on GC up the three-kilometre Arthurs Seat climb. Despite Froome confessing that "I haven’t seen it myself", Sky are on the verge of winning their first race overall in season 2016 with only the triple ascent of the Mornington Peninsula climb to come.
Following a relaxed day in the saddle from Traralgon to Leongatha, Kennaugh is just 121.8km from becoming the first British rider since Bradley Wiggins in 2008 to claim overall honours.
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“It would mean absolutely everything. Obviously, winning the Cadel race and then coming here and winning the first stage was just a massive bonus in itself. If I can hold on to GC, I’ll go home a happy boy that’s for sure" Kennaugh said. "It’s nice, it means you can relax a bit and start the preparation for the next couple of races with confidence and good morale, so fingers crossed."
On stage 1, the Team Sky duo proved themselves as the strongest climbers in the race, skipping away from the peloton on the 8.3km Mt St Leonard category one climb, but Kennaugh wouldn't be drawn into making predictions on the outcome of tomorrow's stage.
"I can’t read the future but it’s a different climb to the first day," he said. "Obviously, it’s a lot shorter and you saw yesterday on the shorter climbs that Jack Bobridge and other guys can hold their own so I think it will be a different kind of race and a different style of racing. We're just going to take things one-step at a time in the stage, see how the legs are," Kennaugh added. "If Froomey is feeling super good, obviously it will be up to him to have an attack. He can do what he wants but I am sure we’ll have a strategy sorted by tomorrow and take it from there.
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