Tour of Tasmania | Stage 4 | SumUp Men's League
Under dry conditions, anticipation was high heading to the Golden Valley summit finish. Hamish McKenzie (Tasmanian Institute of Sport) led the general classification ahead of Zac Marriage (Butterfields Ziptrak Racing), with all eyes on a final showdown between Marriage and 5th placed Jack Ward (Team Brennan p/b TP32), just 34 seconds down.
A break of three; Brendon Green (Cycling Development Foundation), Tom Cheeseman (Criterion Racing), and Lenny Griffiths (Individual), formed early in the stage and held their lead until the lower slopes of the final climb. It was here where Team Brennan put their riders at the front and set a relentless pace, attempting to launch Jack Ward early enough to close the time gap needed to win the GC.
Ward launched his attack with approximately 7km to go and immediately opened a gap. Marriage formed a chase group behind and stayed about 10 seconds back for the duration of the climb but was unable to bridge the gap.
At the line, it was Ward who claimed the stage win, finishing 17 seconds ahead of Marriage. The stage win's time bonus was enough to move him into the GC lead by just one second. Ollie Sims (Cobra9 X Leigh Surveyors) secured a well-earned third place on the stage and fourth on GC.
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