Conor Dunne got up the road early in Australia and stayed there for most of the race, taking a very nice category win; the first at this level for Aqua Blue Sport
Riding his first race for Aqua Blue Sport, Conor Dunne attacked the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race early in Australia overnight and would ride out of his socks all the way.
The Irish international was part of a four man move gain a lead of 10:30 at one point before the teams of the fancied riders knuckled down and decided to bring the gap under control.
However, with sprint primes and climbers’ points along the way; the breakaway stayed clear for long enough to share those classifications.
And it was Dunne who won the polka dot jersey and get his first visit of the year to the podium at the end of the contest.
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Dunne was clearly determined to get clear from the gun and it was he who hit out first, with Alex Porter riding for the Australian national team.
Ángel Vicioso (Katusha-Alpecin) and Kirill Sveshnikov (Gazprom-RusVelo's) joined them and that quartet settled down for a long day out front together.
Dunne went for a long one at the first sprint point but was overhauled by Porter, who would go on to claim that classification.
Dunne simply switched his focus to the climbers’ classification and took the climbers’ prime at Bells Beach.
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With lead tumbling after the big teams got organised behind, Dunne again took the points on the first passage of Challambra Crescent where he and Porter pulled clear of their fellow escapees.
Approaching the second passage of the climb the two up front still had just over one minute; a gap Dunne’s team mate Calvin Watson bridged across to and there were two Aqua Blue men up them for a period with Watson.
But it wasn’t long before they were recaptured and while big guns likes Esteban Chaves (Orica-Scott), Richie Porte (BMC) and even Chris Froome (Team Sky) attacked a group of 25 came to the finish together to fight it out for victory.
And while Australian Cameron Meyer attacked with about 800 metres to go and pulled out a gap, it was Sunweb’s Nikias Arndt who galloped in to win.
Simon Gerrans (Orica-Scott) was 2nd and Meyer – who came so close to winning for the national team – held on for 3rd place.
Best of the Aquablue men was Aaron Gate; in 27th place and just 37 seconds down. Dunne would come home in 87th place but with the climbers’ classification in the bag, the first result for the team in a UCI registered race.
Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
1 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb 4:19:15
2 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-Scott
3 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Australian National Team
4 Jhonatan Restrepo (Col) Katusha-Alpecin
5 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky
6 Petr Vakoc (Cze) Quick-Step Floors
7 Nathan Haas (Aus) Dimension Data
8 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
9 Jay Mccarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
10 Paul Martens (Ger) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
11 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
12 Rafael Valls (Spa) Lotto Soudal
13 Sven Erik Bystrom (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin
14 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Australian National Team
15 Michael Woods (Can) Cannondale-Drapac
16 Jai Hindley (Aus) Australian National Team
17 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
18 Michael Storer (Aus) Australian National Team
19 Janier Alexis Acevedo Calle (Col) UnitedHealthcare
20 Brendan Canty (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac
74 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:05:49
87 Conor Dunne (Irl) Aqua Blue Sport 0:07:02
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