Tuesday's day three of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour saw another escape stay clear, resulting in a stage win for NSW's Trent Wilson while the GC stayed in the hands of Tasmanian Menzies. CyclingNews reporter John Trevorrow caught up with the key riders at the finish line.
Robbie Mcewen (Australian National Team)
Q: What does this win mean for the team?
A: It's great. When you come into a tour, first you aim is for a stage win and then the overall, and so far in this race we've played our cards just right. We had Trent Lowe in the move yesterday with Gerro and Henk. That gave us a good lead in the teams' class and gave our put our two GC guys up there. And we've put someone up there today and he's won the stage so it's gone perfect so far. I said after the first day that this is the best I've seen Willo (Trent Wilson) ride. He worked all race in the first crit, he was the big mover in the chase, and I said to him "I've never seen you ride better and I reckon you can win one this week," and there you go, stage three and he's got one. I felt better today. It was pretty easy back in the bunch. I seem to be getting better each day, so maybe by the last day I may be ready to do something.
Simon Gerrans (Australian National Team)
Q: The day panned out alright for you?
A: The day panned out perfectly for us. We said this morning that it would be perfect to let a break go that didn't have any serious GC dangers in it and with one of our guys in it. That's exactly what happened. The HealthNet guys just sat on the front and set a good pace and we had a trouble free day. Henk Vogels (Australian National Team) Big Karl is stompin'. He is definitely up. He will do a big ride in the time trial and he can climb alright. I reckon 500 to 600 meter climbs are his limit, 1400 may be a bit much for him. He would need to get another minute to win the tour.
Matthew Lloyd (Southaustralia.com-AIS)
Q: A tough day out there?
A: Yeah it really was. I'm shattered actually. I really want to win one day this week and after crashing in the crit, it's disappointed my whole ambition for the tour. But to come second to someone like Trent who has shown me the way initially when I started out, well I can't complain. Sprinting, well it's interesting. Potentially, the hips still a bit sore but today it started to come OK and a bit of a rest tomorrow and come Thursday I'll give it a crack I suppose.
Karl Menzies (Health Net Presented By Maxxis)
Q: How was it today in Yellow?
A: Pretty good actually. I didn't have to do anything, the guys did a great job, the whole team got on the front and they just kept everything in check and made sure that it didn't blow out. It was perfect and there's not much else you can do. Once you're in yellow that's the race you've got to ride. I didn't have to touch the wind all day so it was actually a bit of a recovery day. Save it all up for Lake Mountain on Thursday.
