Travis McCabe kicked off his first season at UnitedHealthcare in perfect style as he sprinted to victory on stage 3 of the Herald Sun Tour. Orica-Scott's Mitch Docker hit out early but slipped to second with Aqua Blue Sport's Leigh Howard completing the top three.
Billed as the only sprint stage of the race, the technical finale into Mitchelton Winery was complicated by the late catch of the breakaway with two big crashes decimating the field. An earlier decision by commissaires to award the same finish time for the bunch at the 3km to go banner ensured no time losses for the GC men.
Orica-Scott's Damien Howson retained his overall lead of 38 seconds to Jai Hindley - one of the rider's to crash - while the position of Team Sky's Chris Froome remains unchanged at sixth, 1:12 back.
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"It was hairy, it got really crazy in those last few kilometres but I put all my faith and trust in the guys and everyone rode really well. They kept me safe and out of trouble and I came into that right hand turn onto Mitchelton road probably third wheel and there was a bit of crosswind there," McCabe said of the run-in.
"Orica just went as fast as they could with the two guys and Mitch pretty much attacked, punched out I guess, at 200 metres to go and I knew I had the legs so I went as soon as he did and held it to the line with a fairly decent gap, I am really happy."
Team Sky's Danny van Poppel and JLT Condor's Brenton Jones were two of the sprinters to fall in the final with McCabe's director sportif Hendrik Redant explaining that he would have preferred to see his rider test himself against the best in the Herald Sun Tour bunch. A view that McCabe agreed with when put to him.
How it unfolded
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
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