Aptly enough in a Swiss-themed resort, Inverell’s Dylan Sunderland showed precise timing to take the chocolates.
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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.