Sophie Marr (Praties Cycling) wins stage 2 of the Tour of Tasmania 2025, the third round of the new ProVelo Super League(Image credit: Con Chronis/ProVelo Super League)
(Image credit: Con Chronis/ProVelo Super League)
Split-up fields raced to the line in Sheffield in stage 2 of the Tour of Tasmania, with Hagens Berman Jayco rider Hamish McKenzie making the most of his time at his home state race by claiming a solo victory in the men's race on Saturday morning while Sophie Marr (Praties Cycling Team) jumped up a step in the women's race.
Marr turned the tables in the second stage of the third round of racing in the ProVelo Super League, coming over the line ahead of stage 1 winner Keely Bennett (Meridian Blue p/b 99 Bikes) while Alli Anderson again took third.
The women's field had split, with a lead group of 14 emerging on the brutal Union Bridge climb. There was a break of three including New Zealand U23 time trial champion Kirsty Watts (Meridian Blue Cycling p/b 99 Bikes), Sophia Sammons and Frankie Hall (Praties Cycling Team) that held out front until within the final 10km, but ultimately the lead group pulled it back together for a lead group sprint after 102km of racing through the hilly Meander Valley.
The 117km men's stage was also set alight at the Union Bridge climb at around 70km into the day of racing, with Jack Ward (Team Brennan p/b TP32) heading off the road solo and sparking a chase behind.
"It was a super hard stage but I pinned this one down as soon as it got announced and I knew this would be the sort of stage for me. I always knew it would be a battle getting up that climb halfway through the race," McKenzie, who was racing with the Tasmanian Institute of Sport, said in an interview on ProVelo Super League social media. "I got slightly distanced over the top but I managed to use my abilities on the downhill and the flat to pull back the group."
After that the group thinned and ultimately it was three in pursuit of Ward – Zac Marriage (Butterfields Ziptrak Racing), McKenzie and Ollie Sims (Cobra9 X Leigh Surveyors). Sims dropped off, while Marriage chased hard with the overall battle in the U23 category spurring his pursuit of Ward.
That meant when the trio came back together, McKenzie had conserved enough energy to launch solo and make it stick to the line, capturing a confidence-building win before he heads back to Europe to race with Hagens Berman-Jayco.
The racing in the Tour of Tasmania continued on Saturday with a short stage 3 time trial, while a road race race with a climb to the finish will provide the finale on Sunday.
Simone is a degree-qualified journalist that has accumulated decades of wide-ranging experience while working across a variety of leading media organisations. She joined Cyclingnews as a Production Editor at the start of the 2021 season and has now moved into the role of Australia Editor. Previously she worked as a freelance writer, Australian Editor at Ella CyclingTips and as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg. Cycling was initially purely a leisure pursuit for Simone, who started out as a business journalist, but in 2015 her career focus also shifted to the sport.
