Conor Dunne is one man who knows how to sniff out a breakaway and he was at it again today at the Jayco Herald Sun Tour when he went clear with nine others and came agonisingly close to winning the stage.
By Brian Canty
Ireland’s Conor Dunne has put in an heroic performance on stage two of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour in Australia this morning.
The Aqua Blue Sport rider took a brilliant second place behind Team Sky’s Luke Rowe after spending much of the day out front in the breakaway.
Dunne was part of an initial break of 10 that went clear on the 165-kilometre stage from Mount Beauty to Beechworth and was never seen again before the finish.
In the move were Rowe (Sky), Tim Ariesen (Roompot Nederlandse Loterij), Steve Lampier (JLT-Condor Cycles), Robbie Hucker (IsoWhey Sports Swiss Wellness Team), Joshua Taylor, Jacob Kauffman (both NSW Institute of Sport), Nicolas Katsonis (Drapac Pat’s Veg Holistic Development Team), Tanner Putt (UnitedHealthCare), Alexey Tcatevich (Gazprom-Rusvelo).
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The peloton, with race leader Damien Howson of Orica-Scott at the head of affairs did not have matters all their own way and struggled to contain the leaders whose advantage went out to over five minutes.
As the breakaway passed the 10-kilometre to-go mark, Rowe attacked while Dunne suffered a front wheel mechanical which could have spelt disaster for him.
However, he didn’t panic and managed to get back into the group which was already splintering at this point.
Behind, Howson’s day took a turn for the worst when he punctured but he too stayed calm and with the help of his team they rode themselves back into the peloton where the rest of the other GC contenders were.
Although to be fair, Chris Froome and the Team Sky riders called a truce and opted not to turn up the gas when they discovered Howson had suffered a mechanical and the latter got back in with less than 20 kilometres to go.
Up ahead, Dunne dug deep to try and reel in Rowe but he’d already spent considerable effort getting back into the group following his mechanical, though he did finish a brilliant second just 33 seconds behind the winner with Putt 23 seconds back in third.
We’ll try to get a word with the big man this afternoon.
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