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Inverell’s Dylan Sunderland will wear the yellow jersey into stage 3 of the Tour of Tasmania after finishing second in Friday’s 71.5km stage from Longford to Poatina.
The 22-year old crossed the line a second behind Kiwi Michael Vink, who he has a five second lead over in the general classification after taking victory in Thursday’s opening stage of the final event of the Cycling Australia National Road Series.
After spending the majority of the stage meandering around Bracknell and Blackwood Creek nervously glancing up at the cloud-cloaked finish, the field of 79 only really began to splinter on the category 1 climb of 15 horizontal kilometres and one vertical.
A group of nine, including tour and National Road Series leader Raph Freienstein (Inform Make) and last year’s Poatina stage winner Alexander Evans (Mobius) was eventually whittled down to four, Vink sprinting away with 100m to go to take the win.
Sunderland (Bennelong Swisswellness) was delighted to add a second place on a stage where he has previously finished third.
“I’m feeling pretty good,” he said after hearing he had a five-second general classification lead over Vink.
“I knew Michael Vink was a good finisher but I could not quite bust him and in the sprint he got the better of me.
“Hopefully we can try and defend the jersey tomorrow and take it into the final crit where we’ll give it everything.”
He is also second in the sprint classification and fourth in the hill climb classification.
Fellow Inverell cyclist Ryan Thomas finished the stage in 65th.
EARLIER:
Aptly enough in a Swiss-themed resort, Inverell’s Dylan Sunderland showed precise timing to take the chocolates.
The NSW rider broke away late on to win the Tour of Tasmania opening stage into Grindelwald for the second time from fellow Inverell product Ryan Thomas.
The 22-year-old has also twice won the young riders’ classification and finished third on the Poatina stage.
“I enjoy coming here,” he said.
“It’s never as easy to win a second time so it’s definitely nice to come back and do it again.
“I think the tour really suits me.”
Melbourne-based German Raph Freienstein added another third place to his prologue result to move into the yellow jersey and strengthen his grip on the National Road Series leadership.
A stunning sun-drenched 115.9-kilometre stage from George Town was dominated by a break of five who established a lead of up to 2:15 as the field of 79 meandered through the North-East only to get caught with 8km to go.
After some cat and mouse stuff on the category two climb off the West Tamar Highway, Sunderland (Bennelong Swisswellness) picked his moment to pinch the win with Thomas (Rabble) leading home the bunch.
“That was pretty cruisy really,” Sunderland said.
“I was trying to set up my teammate Tristan Ward to have a go at the sprint but when I looked over my shoulder a bit of a gap had formed so I kicked and managed to hold them off.”
Sunderland’s victory places him fourth overall in the general classification.
He also leads the sprint classification while Thomas is 10th overall heading into the 71.5km second stage from Longford up to Poatina.