"IT'S a great start, but there's a long way to go," was the view from Launceston realist Tom Robinson after his team raced off the blocks in his home state cycle tour.
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"The hard work is only just beginning," Robinson added as the six-day 487-kilometre Tour of Tasmania prepares to embark on a succession of gruelling stages.
The 25-year-old said his Charter Mason Racing Team was in a buoyant mood after securing first, third and fourth places in the 2km prologue at Hobart's Baskerville raceway.
Now he is focused on trying to repeat the result of his last Tour of Tasmania in 2011 when he helped Genesys teammate Nathan Haas to victory.
"I was still a junior but to be part of a winning team was quite a learning curve," he said.
"It would be great to do it again and we're in a great position but we've got four really big days ahead so we're not getting carried away."
On a windswept day on the outskirts of the capital, 25-year-old Canberran Ben Hill conquered the conditions to claim the yellow jersey with Kiwi Brad Evans (Pat's Veg) second and Hill's teammate Sam Crome, of Victoria, third.
"We spoke last night about trying to minimise our losses against some of the main contenders so to have put time into them is a great start," Robinson said.
"The mood in the team afterwards was pretty excited. Ideally you want to make a pretty good team start but that's not usually the reality so to do just that is a really good statement to make at the start of the tour."
Hill is in top form after claiming three stages at the Tour of Poyang Lake in China and dedicated his latest win to teammate Connor Murtagh who was hit by a car in Melbourne last week.
"He fractured five of his vertebrate in his back, so is lucky to be conscious and mobile," Hill said. "It was a big shock for the team - we are just happy we can be here riding and doing him proud.
"Today was an unknown, because I have not done much racing since China.
"It was super windy out there today, so we did not know how to attack it. We spoke about conserving energy up that initial steep hill, but then Sam Crome came back and said that you have to go hard the whole way. I did that and it worked out."
Hill will spearhead the team's push into Wednesday's tough 120km stage from Strathgordon to New Norfolk.
Legana's Wes Sulzberger won the stage last year and his Navitas Satalyst team will doubtless be keen to repeat the feat.
‘‘It looks easier on the profile but it is a brutal stage,’’ Robinson said.
‘‘It chews your legs up and being so early in the race, if you go too hard you can wreck the rest of your tour.
‘‘It could be a really decisive day and we still have Gunns Plains and Grindelwald to come after that so it’s going to be an interesting week.
‘‘Ben is one of many good options we will be protecting and having so many up there is really good. But they are not very big time gaps and it’s very early. There’s a lot still to be decided.’’
On a busy day for the Robinson family, Tom’s younger brother, James, has been presented with a major workload in his first outing as a senior.
The 18-year-old has been listed to ride the individual and team pursuit, scratch race, points race and madison at the Oceania track championships in Invercargill.
Meanwhile Tassie trio Lauren Perry, Georgia Baker and Macey Stewart will combine in the women’s team pursuit and have also been listed to ride the omnium, scratch and points race with Baker also tackling the individual pursuit.