AFTER clocking up the equivalent of a full working day on the bike, less than half a second is all that separates the leaders in the Tour of Tasmania.
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Another scenic but sapping 119.9-kilometre stage through the North finished with a blistering sprint into George Town and Canberran Ben Hill (Charter Mason) reclaiming the leader’s yellow jersey he lost on stage two by the narrowest of margins.
Fourth place and a time bonus on the stage saw Brad Evans (Pat’s Veg) draw level with Hill’s time of 8 hours, 40 minutes and 19 seconds, race officials only able to separate them on countback from their respective times in the opening-day time trial.
‘‘I might not be the best bike rider in this race, but I think we’ve proven that we have the strongest team,’’ Hill said. ‘‘That has put this jersey on my back.’’
CharterMason was aggressive from the start, propelling Hill to second place on the first sprint and king of the mountain sections. Evans counter-attacked, leading a breakaway to put pressure on his rival as the peloton navigated the gravel road section of the course.
Hill and colleagues battled hard to rejoin the front, setting up an exciting finish with the overall lead on the line.
‘‘I decided to go out for the intermediate time bonuses, while Brad obviously decided to save his legs for the finish,’’ Hill added. ‘‘It almost backfired on me because I went so deep trying to get king of the mountain points that I missed the split over the next hill and they almost rode away.
‘‘Luckily it came back together, but I was pretty tired at the end and Brad managed to get one second on me with his fourth-placed finish. It all worked out, but it was a hard way to do it!’’
Queenslander Dan Fitter won the stage from Germany’s sprint classification leader Michael Schweizer (African Wildlife Safaris) and Legana’s Wes Sulzberger (Navatis).
A junior world champion and reigning Oceania champion on the track, Fitter, 19, was quick to thank his teammate, Launceston’s Tom Robinson, for the home-state knowledge that has kept Charter Mason in the thick of the action since day one.
‘‘Tom’s been great,’’ he said. ‘‘He knows the roads like the back of his hand and it’s great to have him as team captain on the road.
‘‘He calls the shots and really keeps the team together.’’
Fitter said the rest of his team controlled the race and set him up for the win.
‘‘I cannot thank them enough. It just opened up at the end there, I got a good run and it worked out perfectly.
‘‘This is my first Tour of Tas and it’s going great, well, apart from falling off in the prologue, but that’s racing and I was happy to fix that up with a win today.’’
Lucas Hamilton (Jayco VIS) retained his lead in the best young rider and king of the mountain classifications while Morgan Smith (Swift Physio) was adjudged the stage’s most aggressive rider.
CharterMason’s stage three success has elevated them to within one point of Avanti Racing in the National Road Series team aggregate standings.
Of Sulzberger’s fellow Tasmanians, Jake Oliver is 43rd overall followed by Danny Pulbrook (46th), Michael Smith (55th), Mark Jamieson (59th), Robinson (60th), Harrison Musgrave (61st), Sam Calow (76th) and Cuan Van Staden (81st).
Saturday’s penultimate 93.1km stage begins in Launceston and heads north-east towards Lilydale before heading back across the Batman Bridge and down the West Tamar to an uphill finish into Grindelwald.