Briton Simon Yates has clinched his first ever victory on Australian soil, sprinting to the stage win at the top of Mount Lofty in style, edging out Jay Vine and Ben O’Connor.
After an intense battle all week, Yates, who came within inches of taking a stage win on day three, finally had the chance to throw his hands in the air with a special victory which secured his second place overall at the Australian WorldTour event.
The Team Jayco AlUla rider showed his intent for general classification success as he danced his way up the Corkscrew climb on day three, but despite getting up for intermediate sprint time bonuses during the penultimate stage, he couldn’t quite snatch the overall win and took second place, only 11 seconds shy of the overall victory.
After a rollercoaster week for the Australian outfit, the team walk away from the five day ‘home’ race very content after a few trips to the podium with Michael Matthews also taking the overall victory in the points classification.
Simon Yates – Stage 5 winner
“I am ecstatic, really happy! We came here to win the overall and we really gave it a good shot, so I think we can walk away very happy. We had a lot of motivation to do a good ride this week, everybody has ridden fantastically.
It was a tough day out there today, a short stage though and one of those circuit races around here that I like with a couple of laps around Mount Lofty. The boys were really great again and everybody played their part and I just managed to line it up there on the final climb and pass Vine on the line for the win. It’s great to win here in Australia!”
Michael Matthews – Points winner
“Simon has been in great shape this week and it is just really awesome and really special to be a part of a team like this where everybody really commits and when we pull it off like this it means a lot. We all delivered to make sure Simon was in position on that final lap and he did it. We have had a bit of a rollercoaster week and especially for me personally, but as a team we did all we could and to take a stage win, the points jersey and also second overall, I think it has been a good week and start of the season for us. It has been really hard aggressive racing and it has been a real pleasure to race again here in Australia.”
