Chris Froome once again made his trademark strong start to the season yesterday, in what could well prove to be a career-defining year for the British rider.
The defending Tour de France champion won the Herald Sun Tour in Melbourne by 29 seconds after tearing away from the pack to secure the final summit stage.
Froome's predilection for hitting the ground running has given the 30-year-old back-to-back victories in his debut race of the 2013 and 2014 seasons, the Tour of Oman, as well as in the Tour of Andalusia in 2015. But as he embarks on a year in which he will be vying for both Olympic gold and the Tour de France, yesterday's victory in a five-day stage race carries added significance.
Froome was lying 13 seconds behind fellow Briton Peter Kennaugh at the end of the third stage, but eventually finished 29 seconds ahead of his Sky team-mate.
A key moment in Froome's overall victory was when he launched a joint attack on Thursday's first hilly stage with Kennaugh, eventually finishing second behind the Isle of Man rider.
Then in a piece of textbook teamwork, Froome's personal moment of glory came on yesterday's stage when he broke away on the foot of the third and final 3km ascent of Arthur's Seat to solo to victory and move ahead of Kennaugh overall.
Froome underlined the importance of getting off to such a strong start to what is likely to prove an exceptionally challenging season. His winter has been less straightforward than usual too, although in a good way as his wife, Michelle, gave birth to their first child in December.
“I am seeing the results of some hard training this winter but this season is lining up to be one of the most eventful of my career so far - I think coming here and walking away with overall victory is an amazing way to start off,” Froome said of his first win since July's Tour de France and 11th overall stage race victory.
“It's never easy to win a bike race. You have to turn yourself inside out for the result,” Froome added, before riding 75km (47 miles) back to his team hotel as extra post-race training.
Kennaugh's second was somewhat overshadowed by reports of a heated verbal confrontation during the stage between himself and Australian rider Pat Shaw, whose team manager Andrew Christie-Johnston said: “They've been blueing all week and that was the heat at the end.”
Sky's encouraging early run of success in Australia was followed up in Spain yesterday with an overall victory for their Dutch rider, Wouter Poels, in the Tour of Valencia.
Froome's next confirmed race will be in Spain, too, in the Volta a Catalunya at the end of March, which will pit him against Alberto Contador and Nairo Quintana, two of his most important rivals for the Tour de France. – The Independent