Chris Froome (Team Sky) won the 2016 Jayco Herald Sun Tour after launching an attack on the final ascent of the Arthurs Seat climb with less than 3km to the finish line racing away solo to win the Jayco Herald Sun Tour. At the start of the final lap Froome had jumped on to Joe Cooper’s (Avanti Isowhey) wheel after the KOM and Cooper quickly built a 40 second lead over the chasing peloton, Froome had team mate and race leader Peter Kennaugh in the chasing bunch so was not required to work at all with Cooper. As Cooper and Froome started the Arthurs Seat climb for the final time Froome attacked and rode away to win the stage by 17 seconds from Damien Howson (Orica-GreenEdge) with Jonathan Clarke (United Healthcare) in third.
Howson’s massive effort gained him third overall displacing Jack Bobridge who had been third at the start of the day, Peter Kennaugh finished in second place overall just 29 seconds behind Froome. It’s been a fruitful visit to Australia for Kennaugh who won the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race a week earlier.
The 2016 Herald Sun Tour was run over five days in Victoria, Australia starting with a prologue in Melbourne followed by four stages around Victoria.
Prologue: 2.1km Southbank, Melbourne – Starting under grey skies and the threat of rain it was Will Clark (Drapac Pro Cycling) winning the prologue for the second year in a row from Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEdge) who also finished second last year, Neil Van Der Ploeg (Avanti IsoWhey) was third. The top 45 riders were covered by only 10 seconds with Peter Kennaugh in 8th place at 5 seconds, Jack Bobridge 14th at 6 seconds and Chris Froome sitting 26th at 8 seconds.
Stage One: 126.1km Healesville – Healesville – Peter Kennaugh and Chris Froome didn’t waste any time stamping their authority over the 2016 Jayco Herald Sun Tour. Froome attacked on the Mt St Leonard Climb with Kennaugh following and the two crested the climb with a 19 second lead over the chasing bunch including Damien Howson, Joe Cooper and Chris Hamilton. With 20km to go Froome and Kennaugh time trialed all the way to the finish to win by 17 seconds with Kennaugh crossing the line first to take the stage win and overall lead of the race by 7 seconds from Chris Froome. Dion Smith (ONE Pro Cycling) won the bunch sprint for third place.
Stage Two: 144.2km Yarra Glen – Moe – Caleb Ewan continued his winning streak of sprint stage wins this summer with his seventh win this year, the race was expected to finish with a bunch sprint but instead Ewan won from a small group after Team Sky and Orica GreenEdge split the peloton in the final 10km. Peter Kennaugh increased his overall lead over Chris Froome to 13 seconds with Jack Bobridge 31 seconds behind Kennaugh.
Jet ✈️ stream… @CalebEwan @ORICA_GreenEDGE takes the sprint finish in Moe. #SunTour pic.twitter.com/RXbUj0HdGq
— Jayco HeraldSun Tour (@HeraldSunTour) February 5, 2016
Stage Three: 146.2km Traralgon – Inverloch – Inverloch delivered the only mass bunch sprint of this years race with John Murphy (United Healthcare Pro Cycling) taking the photo finish ahead of Niccolo Bonifazio (Trek – Segafredo) and Steele von Hoff (ONE Pro Cycling). There was no change to the leaders or time gaps.
John Murphy outsprints Niccolò Bonifazio to win stage 3 of @HeraldSunTour pic.twitter.com/4afdqINt4q
— Graham Watson (@grahamwatson10) February 6, 2016
Stage Four: 121.8km Arthurs Seat – Arthurs Seat – The final stage of this years Jayco Herald Sun Tour got underway at the summit of Arthurs Seat and headed for a loop of the Mornington Penisula via Cape Schanck, Red Hill and Balnarring and then on to three ascents of the Arthurs Seat climb with teh finish at the top of the third lap.
Two beaks were formed but both absorbed before the first ascent of Arthurs Seat. Chris Froome won all three KOM’s on his way to winning the stage and the overall 2016 Jayco Herald Sun Tour.
2016 Jayco Herald Sun Tour Gallery
Overall results of the 2016 Jayco Herald Sun Tour
| Place | Rider (Team) | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christopher FROOME (SKY) | 12h53:00 |
| 2 | Peter KENNAUGH (SKY) | +:29 |
| 3 | Damien HOWSON (OGE) | +1:01 |
| 4 | Jack BOBRIDGE (TFS) | +1:04 |
| 5 | Jack HAIG (OGE) | +1:14 |
| 6 | Jonathan CLARKE (UHC) | +1:15 |
| 7 | Robbie HUCKER (AIW) | +1:20 |
| 8 | Chris HAMILTON (AUS) | +1:23 |
| 9 | Anthony GIACOPPO (AIW) | +1:32 |
| 10 | Dion SMITH (ONE) | +1:32 |
| 11 | Patrick SHAW (AIW) | +1:43 |
| 12 | Steven LAMPIER (JLT) | +1:51 |
| 13 | Nathan EARLE (DPC) | +2:01 |
| 14 | Adam PHELAN (DPC) | +2:02 |
| 15 | Alistair DONOHOE (AUS) | +2:02 |
| 16 | James ORAM (ONE) | +2:12 |
| 17 | Lachlan NORRIS (DPC) | +2:13 |
| 18 | Jai HINDLEY (ATG) | +2:14 |
| 19 | Ben DYBALL (AUS) | +2:18 |
| 20 | Michael STORER (AUS) | +2:24 |
| 21 | Damiano CUNEGO (NIP) | +2:24 |
| 22 | Chris HARPER (SOM) | +2:32 |
| 23 | Jason CHRISTIE (KRD) | +2:59 |
| 24 | Sebastian HENAO GOMEZ (SKY) | +3:31 |
| 25 | Laurent DIDIER (TFS) | +4:02 |
| 26 | Joseph COOPER (AIW) | +4:57 |
| 27 | Ian BOSWELL (SKY) | +5:19 |
| 28 | Patrick LANE (AIW) | +5:50 |
| 29 | Cameron BAYLY (ATG) | +6:45 |
| 30 | Michael CUMING (SOM) | +8:55 |
| 31 | Nick MILLER (KRD) | +9:57 |
| 32 | Richard HANDLEY (ONE) | +10:42 |
| 33 | Angus LYONS (AUS) | +11:18 |
| 34 | Brian KAMSTRA (TNN) | +11:56 |
| 35 | Scott THOMAS (DSR) | +12:59 |
| 36 | Nicholas KATSONIS (SOM) | +13:27 |
| 37 | Kristian HOUSE (ONE) | +13:38 |
| 38 | Salvatore PUCCIO (SKY) | +14:28 |
| 39 | Fumiyuki BEPPU (TFS) | +14:37 |
| 40 | Daniel SUMMERHILL (UHC) | +14:51 |
| 41 | Niccolo BONIFAZIO (TFS) | +16:12 |
| 42 | Mitchell DOCKER (OGE) | +16:13 |
| 43 | Jesse KERRISON (SOM) | +16:48 |
| 44 | Giacomo BERLATO (NIP) | +16:54 |
| 45 | Suleiman KANGANGI (KRD) | +18:52 |
| 46 | Scott AMBROSE (TNN) | +19:33 |
| 47 | Julien BERNARD (TFS) | +20:09 |
| 48 | Dylan SUNDERLAND (SOM) | +20:11 |
| 49 | William CLARKE (DPC) | +20:17 |
| 50 | Jonathan MOULD (JLT) | +20:48 |
| 51 | Ryan CAVANAGH (SOM) | +20:59 |
| 52 | Thomas SCULLY (DPC) | +21:33 |
| 53 | Ryan THOMAS (DSR) | +22:17 |
| 54 | Daniele COLLI (NIP) | +22:20 |
| 55 | Joshua HUNT (ONE) | +22:22 |
| 56 | Timothy GUY (ATG) | +22:32 |
| 57 | John MURPHY (UHC) | +23:15 |
| 58 | Steele VON HOFF (ONE) | +24:02 |
| 59 | Tanner PUTT (UHC) | +25:06 |
| 60 | Brodie TALBOT (STG) | +25:16 |
| 61 | Christian MEIER (OGE) | +25:24 |
| 62 | Tyler MAGNER (UHC) | +25:49 |
| 63 | Dylan NEWBERY (DSR) | +25:56 |
| 64 | Yuma KOISHI (NIP) | +26:04 |
| 65 | Morgan SMITH (KRD) | +26:22 |
| 66 | Josh BERRY (STG) | +27:24 |
| 67 | Luke ROWE (SKY) | +27:46 |
| 68 | Eugenio ALAFACI (TFS) | +28:20 |
| 69 | Christopher WILLIAMS (TNN) | +30:13 |
| 70 | Nicholas WOODS (STG) | +30:16 |
| 71 | Alistair SLATER (JLT) | +30:27 |
| 72 | Russell DOWNING (JLT) | +30:28 |
| 73 | Sam DOBBS (ATG) | +32:02 |
| 74 | George ATKINS (JLT) | +32:10 |
| 75 | Jay DUTTON (STG) | +32:25 |
| 76 | Samuel BEWLEY (OGE) | +33:35 |
| 77 | Benjamin HILL (ATG) | +35:25 |
| 78 | Craig EVERS (DSR) | +35:36 |
| 79 | Adrian HEGYVARY (UHC) | +35:42 |
| 80 | James GLASSPOOL (TNN) | +35:42 |
| 81 | Nathan ELLIOTT (KRD) | +35:45 |
| 82 | Corentin CHERHAL (TNN) | +35:53 |
| 83 | Shao Hsuan LU (ATG) | +35:54 |
| 84 | Gerd DE KEIJZER (TNN) | +35:58 |
| 85 | Samuel VOLKERS (DSR) | +36:33 |
| 86 | Daniel BONELLO (STG) | +38:57 |
| 87 | Thomas HUBBARD (DSR) | +41:19 |
| 88 | Liam HILL (KRD) | +42:34 |
| dnf | Caleb EWAN (OGE) | |
| dnf | Travis MEYER (DPC) | |
| dnf | Nicolas MARINI (NIP) | |
| dnf | Kazushige KUBOKI (NIP) | |
| dnf | Christopher LAWLESS (JLT) | |
| dnf | Neil VAN DER PLOEG (AIW) | |
| dnf | Patrick SHARPE (STG) | |
| dnf | Lucas HAMILTON (AUS) |
Race report – TBL – The Bike Lane
