Stage 3 of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour was on paper one for the sprinters. Orica-GreenEdge's Caleb Ewan delivered on his favourite status for the 144.2km jaunt from Yarra Glen to Moe but it wasn't quite the finish many had expected. The three WorldTour teams in the race, Team Sky, Orica-GreenEdge and Trek-Segafredo, dropped the hammer in the final five kilometres to split the already reduced peloton.
A six-rider group of Ewan, Jack Haig (Orica-GreenEdge), Peter Kennaugh, Chris Froome (Team Sky), Jack Bobridge (Trek-Segafredo), and Tanner Putt (UnitedHealthcare) initiated the race winning move in the gusty conditions. Kennaugh won the sprint for third place behind Ewan and Putt to pick up four bonus seconds to extend his overall race lead with Froome following him home for a prosperous day in the saddle in which they eliminated several GC threats.
Although Team Sky lost the king of the mountain's jersey it held at the start of the day with Froome, it ended the stage with Kennaugh 13 seconds ahead of the two-time Tour de France champion, and 31 seconds ahead of Bobridge.
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Stage 4 is again another day for the sprinters before Sunday's queen stage up Arthurs Seat with Team Sky in pole position to finish one-two on the final podium.
"That’s the beauty of cycling, you never quite know what to expect with some of these stages," Kennaugh said after the podium celebrations in which he also collected the sprint classification jersey.
"It’s good that we have the upper hand I guess and weren’t caught out ourselves. The boys did a fantastic job. We were just at the front covering moves all day. They love to race hard out here. The first 40 minutes was just full gas racing, everyone trying to get into the break. That’s always exciting and another day in the office."
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