The Tour of Tasmania kicks off in Bicheno, named after James Ebenezer Bicheno, the British Colonial Secretary for Van Diemen's Land (the old name of the island) from 1843 to 1851. The riders travel along the east coast Tasman Highway to St Helens, the fishing capital of Tasmania. It's a long day in the saddle, 212 kilometer, and the profile seems to indicate a bunch sprint.
Six riders are going for an early escape: Holmes Goldstein Brockhoff Christensen Riesebeek Polnicky
Ganna wanted to be number seven but his attempt was blocked.
The first of two mountain sprints takes place twenty kilometer into the stage. Brockhoff takes six points, Riesebeek four and Holmes two.
The first intermediate sprint follows another twenty kilometer later. Here Riesebeek takes the win ahead of Holmes and Polnicky.
The peloton crossing the same line five minutes and thirty seconds later. Volvo, Air France and Festina are the teams with the most presence at the front.
The second sprint is a very close finish, we need to evaluate the still frame to decide the order between Holmes, Polnicky, Christensen and Riesebeek.
The intermediate sprint is a lot less close with Riesebeek beating Holmes and Brockhoff. The gap with 115 kilometer to go is four minutes.
We also have the result of the previous mountain sprint. After careful deliberation, the six points are awarded to Riesebeek, the four points to Holmes and the two points to Christensen. It means Riesebeek will wear the polka dot jersey tomorrow, leading the classification with ten points compared to Brockhoff and Holmes with six and Christensen with two.
It looked like a quiet ride for the peloton but Grieg measures the wind and decides it is time for echelons. Amongst the stage contenders, Vanderbiest, Groenewegen and Howard are relegated to the second group, Van der Lijke and Petit even in the third. Amongst the GC contenders the carnage is even bigger. Latour, Betancourt, Gastauer, Vakoc, Kinoshita, Shikai, Lopez, Sagan, Ponzi, Kwiatkowski, Meintjes, McCarthy, amongst those in the third group or behind.
When the wind dies down again we have a peloton of 74 riders, a second group is close to retuning but struggles in the final meters. The third group contains Kinoshita, Ponzi, Kwiatkowski, Bakelants, Vakoc and Betancourt at two minutes, Sagan, McCarthy and Lopez group four at three minutes, Meintjes and Chernetskiy in groups even further behind.
Remember we still have a break in the lead, two minutes with 20 kilometer. Polnicky attacks and Brockhoff counters, smelling a surprise. The headcount in the peloton is back to 94 with that second group finally rejoining, containing the dropped sprinters but only minor GC contenders. The next group with a bunch of those now at two minutes.
Along the coastline the wind picks up again with minor cracks occurring as a result. Ahlstrand and Coquard the only two sprinters in front, as well as Phinney, Würtz, Coppel and Keizer and a few other big names who will be the unlikely benefiters of today's stage.
With ten kilometer to go the break, reunited, now leads by three minutes. The echelons really tire out the peloton, with the previous split undone, and the next group still at two minutes. Kinoshita, Kwiatkowski and Ponzi in said group.
The six only lose thirty seconds in five kilometer, the sprinters will miss their only opportunity this race. One of these six will win the stage: Brockhoff, Christensen, Holmes, Goldstein, Polnicky, Riesebeek.
Polnicky's attack is costing him towards the finish line as he loses contact with the group. Looks like Brockhoff has drawn the shortest straw and has to lead everyone out. No clear favorite on paper, as all of them find themselves in an unfamiliar situation.
Polnicky fights back but has no answer again as the sprint is opened Christensen, Holmes, Riesebeek on a row behind Brockhoff.
Riesebeek takes the lead as Holmes and Brockhoff concede defeat. Can Christensen or Goldstein overtake the leader?
Oscar Riesebeek is the surprising winner of the first stage in the Tour of Tasmania! An amazing result for the Dutchman, who also takes yellow, green and the polka dots.
Ryan Christensen fails to take the win for the home team, but a second place surely isn't bad either.
Omer Goldstein takes third and the final bonifications. He's a decent time trialist so if he limits his loss tomorrow he might be in for a very good GC at the end of the race.
Brockhoff ends up in fourth, Holmes in fifth and Polnicky in sixth, no gaps amongst them but no bonus seconds either.
The sprint for seventh is obviously still contested. No trains meaning the remaining sprinters just go for it, starting with Vanderbiest and Kennaugh on the left. The second group almost got back as the pace dropped before the sprint.
More contenders appear: Ahlstrand, Petit and Van der Lijke looking for the gap between them. Howard, Lutsenko, Luchshenko and Hansen also throwing their name in the hat. Coquard and Groenewegen too far away to be in the mix.
And it's Ahlstrand who takes seventh place ahead of Kennaugh, Van der Lijke. Howard tenth just edging out Vanderbiest, Lutsenko and Petit. Coquard only fifteenth, Groenewegen only seventeenth. The gap to the leaders for this group, disregarding bonus seconds, is 2'53. What will the damage behind be?
The next group is led by Kwiatkowski, who incurs a minor dent in his GC ambitions. With him are Ponzi, Kinoshita, Boswell, Vogt, Vakoc, Dyball, Gidich, Rosskopf, Zoidl and Shikai. They finish at + 4'14, 1'17 behind the group ahead.
Chernetskiy and Stüssi are the most prominent names in the next small group at 5'08.
The next group at + 5'49 is in deeper trouble. Sagan, Bakelants, McCarthy, Tvetcov, Powless, Carapaz and Betancourt can be found here.
The biggest losers are Meintjes, Prado, Gastauer and Lopez, losing seven minutes. Laengen even behind them at eight minutes. These riders need to attack before the start tomorrow to make up some of that loss.
The first day was supposed to be a easy introduction, but turns out to be anything but. We have six riders who want to hold on to their given lead, favorites who lost loads of time and need to go on the attack and riders and managers who might smell a surprise result from this race. I got ahead of myself by saying Riesebeek will wear the polka dot as he will obviously wear yellow. As he can't also wear green it will be worn by Christensen, who prefers it over his rightful white. Brockhoff and Goldstein will wear the polka dot and white jersey instead. The teams classification is led by Bennelong, tied with eBuddy.
