Australian Arron Donnelly won the first stage of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour in Australia today.
With Jordan Kerby wearing yellow, the race started two hours early due to the extreme temperatures in Victoria, which were expected to reach forty four degrees.
There were a number of attacks early on after the race left Rupertswood Mansions but it was Alex Symthe who was the first to get away after nine kilometres of this 147.7km stage from Sunbury to Bendigo.
He was caught by Mike Northey and a seven man break formed. They were caught and the front group increased to eleven riders which included defending champion Nathan Haas.
Their lead went out to 3.30 as they approached the first climb of the day at Mount Macedon. (pic).
It was Haas who took the the first climb but he suffered a mechanical and had to rejoin the lead group, after losing his spot at the front.
The group had increased to 22 riders who were chasing Northey, Calvin Watson and Alex Malone, who was caught by Arron Donnelly who won the first intermediate sprint.
With 93kms gone, Northey, Watson, Malone, Atkins, Roberts, Donnelly and Linfield had got clear and were 4.45 ahead of the peloton.
At the 100km mark, that gap was now 5.36 and increased further still to 6.08. (pic)
That was not to last and the peloton got into their groove and chased down the seven escapers. With 25kms to go, the gap was down to 3.11.
On the Strathfieldsaye Road, Donnolly took the second intermediate sprint followed by Malone, the most aggressive rider of the day and Atkins as Northey was dropped by the lead group.
Atkins, Donnelly and Watson decided to split the seven man group on its run in to the Tom Flood Sports Centre in Bendigo.
Josh Atkins took the second King Of The Mountains climb on the One Tree Hill Road,some thirteen kilometres from the finish.
The peloton were 2.07 behind with two kilometres to go but could not catch Arron Donnelly who, had finished seventh in the prologue, who took the victory ahead of Victorian Calvin Watson (Jayco-VIS) and New Zealand’s Josh Atkins (Grays Online NZ National Team).