In fifth place, Sunderland turned heads as he kept pace with world tour professionals, finishing just over a minute behind leader Esteban Chaves, who is known for his successes in the Tour De France and Giro D’Italia.

“The four riders in front of me were all world tour pros,” Sunderland said.

“To be the first amateur rider overall was a pretty big achievement.” 

Sunderland came home with the Best Young Rider jersey, which he won in stage four and defended successfully on Sunday. He said winning the classification by over 40 seconds was “unreal”.

“Several riders threw everything at me to try and take it off me, but I was lucky I had a strong team around me to help me out,” he said.

Sunderland felt the long stages, with two over 200 kilometres, played to his strengths as a climber and endurance rider. He said the success boosted his confidence as he continues to pursue a professional career.

“It definitely puts your name out there and gets more exposure for yourself.”

Sunderland’s Bennelong Swisswellness Team had a successful tour, with Sam Crome winning stage five.

Thomas went in to the tour with one main goal – to make the top 10 in one stage. By day two, he had succeeded, coming in seventh after placing 13^th in stage one. 

“Day one was really hard. There was big cross winds and a lot of the Australian domestic teams didn’t have many riders there,” he said, adding that he was “pretty stoked” for the Brisbane Continental Cycling Team to stay near the front.

“Day two was really good. We had three guys in that front group,” he said.

“I knew that that climb was going to be really hard, but I knew that I could get over and if I got over the climb it was a good opportunity for me to get in the top 10, so I was happy with that.”