Team Sky's Luke Rowe enjoyed his first victory since 2012 on a day that almost saw the Herald Sun Tour blow apart and the breakaway survive on stage 2 into Beechworth. Rowe won alone, crossing the line more than 30 seconds ahead of Conor Dunne (Aqua Blue Sport) and Tanner Putt (UnitedHealthcare) who were second and third on the stage.
Rowe’s win was the second for Team Sky at this year’s race after Danny Van Poppel’s victory in the prologue.
A mechanical problem for race leader Damien Howson at the base of the final climb, with 20km to go, on stage 2 could have spelled disaster as Sky looked to capitalise and move Chris Froome up the general classification. Howson had his Orica-Scott teammates drag him back to the head of the reduced peloton, making contact with the Froome group inside the final kilometre to ensure his race lead remained intact.
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"There weren't too many words that were spoken. I think we all knew what we had to do," Howson said after collecting the yellow jersey following the fight to keep his lead. "It was a matter of giving it our all and hoping we didn't come up short which obviously didn't result and I can't be more grateful for what everyone has done for me today.”
Post-stage, Froome confirmed that as the race was in "full swing" and that there was no waiting around for Howson to recover from his misfortune.
"For us back in the bunch, obviously we wanted to shake things up on the general classification so we hit the climb hard," Froome said of the stage finale. "Halfway up the climb, we heard that Howson had punctured but by then the race was in full swing and there was no stopping."
A beautiful start in Mt Beauty
Rolling the dice
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