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Herald Sun Tour Discussion
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| jackgibbs |
Posted on 08-11-2026 00:13
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Stagiare
Posts: 151
Joined: 25-07-2021
PCM$: 300.00
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 Herald Sun Tour
The CT returns to Australia!
Although much PT, HC, and C1 racing has already transpired in the country during the early weeks of the 2026 season, now it is the turn for a C2-level spin through the countryside. The recent history of the race shows a script to be followed, clear as a sunny day in the land down under. There will be four sprints. There will be a time-trial. The winner of the time-trial will win the general classification.
But the simplicity of that story doesn’t mean there won’t be ample drama when the rubber hits the road, for both the mass sprints and the singular race of truth. An exceptionally strong field has assembled, and plenty of teams, riders, and managers will fancy a return on their race days.
The Route:
Although the tour is a sprinters paradise, that does not mean the route is completely devoid of incline. In fact the classified climbs of the route are not at all insubstantial, but their effect is muted by positioning: each falls in the first half of a given parcours and so will likely be the exclusive playground of the breakaway artists. And even though they will almost certainly be contested by the bunch, the finales of the first and second race days do incorporate distinctly uphill sprints as well. The opening finale is in particular a borderline climb that is likely go to one of the more versatile sprinters, rather than the one with the purest speed.
The first day of 124.2km from Geelong to Ballarat is bumpy throughout, with the most substantial climb coming near the midway point. Despite its short length, the day will demand some real resilience from the sprinters in the lead up to that aforementioned uphill kick to the line. The second day sees two proper climbs in the first half of the 158.3km course, before a mostly downhill false flat drag into the finish where the route again kicks back up in the final kilometer. The third day is the easiest of all, featuring only some minor speed bumps in the first half, before a just about pan-flat finishing circuit leads into the most traditional of bunch sprints at the end of 172.1km.
Then it is the turn of the time-trialists. The 20.8km route is more than long enough to create some meaningful time gaps, despite the mostly flat terrain. The winner will almost certainly be decided here, but there is one more day to go. The race ends with the fifth stage of 166.5kms of racing into a finish at the Mitchelton Winery. A substantial ascent at the halfway point gives way to a flat run in and yet another expected bunch kick to conclude the tour.
The Favorites:
| Rider | Fl | TT | ST | RS | RC | PR |  Powless | 72 | 80 | 76 | 74 | 76 | 78 |  Lammertink | 73 | 79 | 68 | 74 | 68 | 78 |  Onodera | 74 | 78 | 75 | 74 | 71 | 75 |  Kukrle | 72 | 78 | 74 | 74 | 70 | 79 |  Belevics | 76 | 78 | 73 | 72 | 73 | 78 |  Politt | 73 | 78 | 70 | 73 | 72 | 76 |  Gonzalez Salas | 68 | 78 | 71 | 73 | 62 | 78 | | Sütterlin | 69 | 78 | 70 | 74 | 62 | 78 | | Nyoni | 69 | 77 | 67 | 72 | 69 | 77 | | Cardona | 73 | 77 | 72 | 74 | 68 | 77 | | Howson | 68 | 77 | 68 | 69 | 67 | 77 |  Vanderpool | 68 | 77 | 63 | 65 | 61 | 76 |  Scotson | 72 | 76 | 73 | 70 | 70 | 78 | | Jungels | 70 | 76 | 71 | 72 | 64 | 76 | | Paillot | 66 | 76 | 69 | 68 | 59 | 76 | | Yatsevich | 66 | 76 | 70 | 75 | 61 | 76 | | Marchewka | 64 | 76 | 72 | 74 | 72 | 76 |
There is no real difference between the set of overall favorites and the set of favorites on the day for the time-trial. A few of the sprinters are capable in prologues, but it seems unlikely any will be close enough to turn bonus seconds into genuine contention.
As such, top of the list is the superstar of the division, Powless of Banco Vaticano - Valkyrie. While by far the most likely champion, unlike on more traditional GC routes which mix climbing and time-trialing in fair measure, he is not quite so well-assured of victory here. Although the strongest time-trialist in the race, the gap between Powless and his present challengers under the clock is not insurmountable, and he has absolutely no room for error. Lacking any capacity for the sprints, an off day could doom him to watching somebody else take home the overall victory.
Of those challengers, Lammertink of JEWA - Tirol, Onodera of Fincantieri - Grand Seiko, Kukrle of IESE, Belevics of Tafjord - Kraft, Politt of Euskotren - Pays Basque, Gonzalez Salas of SEE Turtles, and Powless’ own teammate and defending champion Sütterlin look the strongest on paper. Each will enter the starting blocks with dreams of knocking the American down a peg and taking the win for themselves.
Meanwhile, SEE Turtles have also brought Nyoni, Cardona, and Howson, while Simba Cement have stacked up Vanderpool, Jungels, and Paillot. They'll be the favorites for victory in the team competition. The list of individual favorites is rounded out by Yatsevich of JEWA, Marchewka of IESE, and Scotson of Phillips - Hero down from the PCT.
The Sprint Teams:
| Rider #1 | Fl | SP | AC | Rider #2 | Fl | SP | AC | Rider #3 | Fl | SP | | Stalberg | 70 | 80 | 76 | Page | 73 | 78 | 78 | Belevics | 76 | 63 | | Boudat | 73 | 79 | 78 | Losch | 72 | 77 | 77 | Gough | 72 | 75 | | Kennett | 75 | 79 | 78 | Oka | 73 | 76 | 76 | Culey | 78 | 65 |  Bauhaus | 74 | 78 | 75 | Walscheid | 72 | 78 | 77 |  El Sabbahi | 77 | 78 | 77 | Marin | 74 | 75 | 75 | Neilands | 77 | 71 | | Aquilani | 76 | 77 | 76 | Hayakawa | 70 | 76 | 74 | Moschetti | 70 | 75 |  Tivani | 70 | 77 | 78 | Alaphilippe | 70 | 75 | 74 | Granados | 72 | 72 | | Sureda | 73 | 77 | 79 | Baterdene | 74 | 76 | 77 | Medvedev | 77 | 71 |  Coutinho | 69 | 76 | 75 | Barbari | 70 | 75 | 77 | | Darbinyan | 72 | 76 | 74 |  Kelly | 74 | 75 | 77 |  Consonni | 72 | 75 | 75 | Molano | 70 | 75 | 77 |  Manninen | 71 | 75 | 75 |
A sprint field of considerable depth has made the journey down under as well, and it’s no surprise with four stages and a green jersey on offer. Leading the way are three of the top CT sprinters, Stalberg of Tafjkord - Kraft, Boudat of JEWA Tirol, and Kennett of SEE Turtles. Each has come accompanied by a strong leadout train, and we should expect their teams to work hard to control the racing and deliver them with a clear run to the line.
Challenging those trains will be a group of teams led by Karthago with El Sabbahi, Fincantieri - Grand Seiko with Aquilani, IncaLine with Tivani, and Simba Cement - Tanga Fresh with Sureda. Each of those leaders has capable leadouts of their own, but they might nevertheless decide on any given day to instead surf wheels depending on how the build up to the finish plays out.
Of the true pirates, by far the strongest are the pair of Bauhaus and Walscheid from Billstedt - Horn, but Air New Zealand - Prada, Euskotren - Pays Basque, the Brandt Cycling Team, Parmalat - Croatia, and even the development Team Trululu have also brought one or more riders who will certainly look to mix it up in the bunch kicks.
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| jackgibbs |
Posted on 08-11-2026 00:15
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Stagiare
Posts: 151
Joined: 25-07-2021
PCM$: 300.00
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Had hoped to start this race with Onodera a favorite for the win, but with Powless (unexpectedly, to me) here a podium is maybe more reasonable of a goal. Will be satisfied with anything T5. But he should very much be in the mix, and stranger things have happened.
Meanwhile, it'll be the first run out for the full Onodera/Turek -> Moschetti -> Hayakawa -> Aquilani train, which should be very strong. Whether Aquilani can consistently deliver at the end of that remains to be seen, but the harder sprints in particular should suit him well. And after Tachira, I'm ready for anything. |
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| Caspi |
Posted on 08-11-2026 08:25
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Protected Rider
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After Tachira I'm not expecting anything from Sureda. Will be interesting to see if he sprints better without leadout, even though I consider it close to optimal for him.
I am hoping for a top 10 in the GC however, and a podium in the team classification.
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| Imladrik |
Posted on 08-11-2026 11:43
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Ouch, stacked startlist for the TT. We'll need a good day from Politt.
For the other stages, we're counting on breaks I thing to gets points here and there.
Excited to see how it goes. Good luck everyone, and thanks Jack for the preview.
“...the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably."
A. Roy
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 08-11-2026 13:05
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Team Leader
Posts: 7435
Joined: 11-07-2014
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First time seeing how our sprint train works. Got a little more faith in Marin after Tachira at least.  No huge goals anyway but hoping for some okay points to justify coming.
Pressures on Powless to take the GC. Looks like another huge scoring race for SEE Turtles too.
Thanks Jack for another great preview!
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 11-11-2026 13:04
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| seancoll |
Posted on 08-11-2026 21:34
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This is the start of the Banco Vaticano Powless train and they could come away with a big GC result here with them and Sutterlin. Let's see if this is a good use of RD...
For the Turtles, we are hoping for a stage win with Kennett (two would be amazing) and some serious bonus seconds to keep him in the GC with his overall good TT for the sprint field. Lots of GC depth as well for us. 3 in the top 10 would be stellar, even if we can't get a top 5.
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 09-11-2026 00:02
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 13454
Joined: 27-07-2015
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Here for some minor points with Scotson and Hoole. Lets see what they can do with the rare leadership duty.
Thanks for the preview jack!
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| jackgibbs |
Posted on 09-11-2026 02:06
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Stagiare
Posts: 151
Joined: 25-07-2021
PCM$: 300.00
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Terrible start: no train, Aquilani got bossed around and then sat up with no route to a meaningful finish. Nowhere to go but up, at least. |
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 09-11-2026 06:50
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Team Leader
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El Sabbahi! 
Very cool that our train kinda dominated on it's first attempt. Then a perfect sprint from El Sabbahi. Could've been a low scoring race for us so great to not have to worry so much now. Also I wonder what percentage of his all-time scoring is in Australia, he had a solid TDU this year as well.
Thanks UU for the report, made it very easy to follow a pretty chaotic sprint.
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 09-11-2026 08:02
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3243
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Oooh, so close to a win by both Stalberg and Page!
Good to see though that we get both green jersey, white jersey and team lead instead. Hopefully we can hold on to some of those 
Congrats to trek and thanks to Ulrich for the great report!
Edited by Bjartne on 09-11-2026 12:44
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 09-11-2026 08:05
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Team Manager
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Always nice to see former Bralirwa riders succeed, although I still regret having let El Sabbahi go during renewals when he maxed His demands felt greedy at the time, but he's done so well since. Congrats trek!
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| Caspi |
Posted on 09-11-2026 10:52
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Sureda just outside the points unfortunately.
I hope to see either Medvedev replace Rubenis as 3rd last in the train or to just scratch our train completely and let Sureda surf wheels.
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| Blasing |
Posted on 09-11-2026 12:34
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Domestique
Posts: 483
Joined: 27-06-2011
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Man I was really excited reading the report and seeing Boudat doing so well untill the very finish. I guess a podium rank for stage 1 is ok, but we were so close!
Hopefully we can get a win in the next stages. I would love to get the green jersey.
But the most important thing is the TT, where we hope that Lammertink can challenge for a GC win.
Manager of JEWA TIROL Cycling Team
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| seancoll |
Posted on 10-11-2026 02:04
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Couldn't bare answer anything for stage 1 but Kennett comes through on stage 2!! Plus our dev team shows up in an exciting way with Manninen coming 5th!
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| jackgibbs |
Posted on 10-11-2026 02:44
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Stagiare
Posts: 151
Joined: 25-07-2021
PCM$: 300.00
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Well it got better, just not better enough. Can't entirely fault Aquilani for trying to follow Karthago, even if it wasn't the right choice today, but would still like to see us get a train of our own together at some point. |
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 10-11-2026 04:40
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Team Leader
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Honestly pretty happy with that stage, love seeing our lead-out train take charge. Looks like we messed it up a little at the end, with Neilands still in front while the other teams final leadouts were well past. Crazy fast finish at least from El Sabbahi to salvage something too. Feel like if we can keep taking control like that we'll see more results so pretty optimistic.
Grats Sean and thanks UU once again!
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| whitejersey |
Posted on 10-11-2026 04:42
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3537
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Kennett W 
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| Imladrik |
Posted on 10-11-2026 08:21
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Posts: 1390
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No shame for Darbynian to not keep the pace, he's not really a sprinter. Nice to see him involve, maybe it'll pay off.
Glad to see Politt attentive near the front, too.
I'm questionning our tactics regarding the break, though. Serrano getting some mountain points is interesting, but why not sending in the break? Not sure we can make something of it in the coming stage. We'll see.
Thanks for the reports Ulrich!
“...the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably."
A. Roy
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| Bjartne |
Posted on 10-11-2026 08:50
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Classics Specialist
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Although disappointing 6th place by Page, he atleast got sone bonus seconds on the intermediate sprint to keep up in the GC, point and U25 standings.
Congrats Sean and thanks yet again Ulrich! |
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| Caspi |
Posted on 10-11-2026 08:53
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Great sprint this time.
Nice to see our effort in the peloton is rewarded. And I guess the sprint train worked this time - perhaps it's best if we arrive late.
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