Colombian Esteban Chaves has claimed overall victory at this year’s Herald Sun Tour after an impressive performance though the four total stages of the event.
Today’s 152.1km stage included five hilly laps in total. The fourth stage came down to a bunch of 17 man sprinting to the finish line as Crome was able to beat Meyer calming stage victory.
“It feels amazing. You come here wanting a good result and it has been a hard week so to top it off with a win, not for myself but for the team, means a lot,” Crome said.
“It has been a really tough time. Late last year one of my mates Jason Lowndes was killed in the accident by a car and it really hit home with us all at Bendigo. He would loved that [win] so that one was for him today. He’d be stoked looking down at that one, that’s for sure.”
NEWS | @estecharu (@MitcheltonSCOTT) won the 2018 @JaycoAust #SunTour, joining the likes of @chrisfroome, @simongerrans & Mockridge on the honour roll of Australia’s oldest stage race. @SammyCrome took line honours in the @gumbuya_world stage bunch sprint https://t.co/54lG7vHag2 pic.twitter.com/sKGQiZ0sX4
— Jayco HeraldSun Tour (@HeraldSunTour) February 4, 2018
Chaves’ first tour victory since 2015
After crossing the finish line with the help of his teammates Meyer and Howson, Chaves was finally able to celebrate his first tour victory since the last time in 2015 when he won the Abu Dhabi Tour.
“It’s a really nice feeling to win here in the home country of the team. We are really happy with the team, we rode really well,” Chaves claimed after taking the overall victory.
“We raced differently this year, every climb was full gas with the breakaway really close. It was intense but the team did very well so thanks very much to all of them. It is unbelievable to have one, two, three overall.”
GALLERY | Some great snaps from the @gumbuya_world final stage of the 2018 @JaycoAust #SunTour. Head to our Facebook page for more. pic.twitter.com/q6tYTB1uMD
— Jayco HeraldSun Tour (@HeraldSunTour) February 4, 2018
