Logan Owen climbed onto his first WorldTour podium as his first WorldTour race came to a close in Adelaide on Sunday. The neo-pro raced aggressively off the front of the peloton on stage six of the Santos Tour Down Under to earn the Most Competitive prize.
“I was meant to go for the sprint and help Mitch [Docker] and Scud [Tom Scully] in the finish,” said Owen. “Will [Clarke] was meant to be in the break. He went for it a few times in the beginning and made a really big effort, but the start was really hard and really fast today. When I saw him going backwards, I took the opportunity to follow wheels.”
Five laps into the 90-kilometer, 20-lap circuit race, Owen found himself up the road with Truls Korsaeth (Astana). Laurent Didier (Trek-Segafredo) bridged across on lap six. The trio gained a maximum advantage of 1:56 as Lotto-Soudal and Mitchelton-SCOTT controlled the peloton.
“When I ended up off the front, I was like: ‘I guess I’m going to roll with it.’ and after that, I rode as hard as I could,” said Owen. “But only a few laps into the move, Astana stopped riding and then Trek stopped riding. That’s when I decided I was going to go at it alone. I had already dug a deep enough hole where I couldn’t have helped the team in the finish, so my only chance to do something at that point was to go for the win.”
The 22-year-old’s solo move was short-lived. Ben O’Connor (Dimension Data) bridged across to Owen on lap nine.
“He came flying up to me,” noted Owen. “I sat on him for awhile. It didn’t benefit me to help him get bonus time, and he was going crazy hard anyway. I thought I could catch a ride for a bit and hopefully make a bid for the finish. I started rolling again when Ben got his sprint points and bonus seconds.”
With four laps remaining and the gap between the bunch and the breakaway beginning to tumble, Owen attacked O’Connor. The American’s efforts afforded him another two laps out front. The peloton shut down the solo bid for glory just beyond the 18th passage of the finish line.
“I threw an attack there at the end to really give it my all,” said Owen. “I always knew it was going to be a long shot.”
The pace was too high in the peloton for any counter-attacks. Several teams jostled for control during the last lap. Team Sunweb and Quick-Step appeared the most organized, but it was Lotto-Soudal who delivered. André Griepel sprinted to his second 2018 Santos Tour Down Under stage win, a record-extending 18th career victory in Australia’s only WorldTour race.
Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-SCOTT) finished on bunch time to become the first South African to win the Santos Tour Down Under overall. Brendan Canty, EF Education First – Drapac p/b Cannodale’s best-placed general classification rider, closed out the week in 22nd place at 29-seconds.
“This was a great week,” said Owen. “It feels like a continuation of what I’ve already been doing with Axeon, my under-23 team. We were serious when we needed to be and had fun when we could. All in all, it was a solid start and a really awesome time. I think this is going to be a great year.”
“I was meant to go for the sprint and help Mitch [Docker] and Scud [Tom Scully] in the finish,” said Owen. “Will [Clarke] was meant to be in the break. He went for it a few times in the beginning and made a really big effort, but the start was really hard and really fast today. When I saw him going backwards, I took the opportunity to follow wheels.”
Five laps into the 90-kilometer, 20-lap circuit race, Owen found himself up the road with Truls Korsaeth (Astana). Laurent Didier (Trek-Segafredo) bridged across on lap six. The trio gained a maximum advantage of 1:56 as Lotto-Soudal and Mitchelton-SCOTT controlled the peloton.
“When I ended up off the front, I was like: ‘I guess I’m going to roll with it.’ and after that, I rode as hard as I could,” said Owen. “But only a few laps into the move, Astana stopped riding and then Trek stopped riding. That’s when I decided I was going to go at it alone. I had already dug a deep enough hole where I couldn’t have helped the team in the finish, so my only chance to do something at that point was to go for the win.”
The 22-year-old’s solo move was short-lived. Ben O’Connor (Dimension Data) bridged across to Owen on lap nine.
“He came flying up to me,” noted Owen. “I sat on him for awhile. It didn’t benefit me to help him get bonus time, and he was going crazy hard anyway. I thought I could catch a ride for a bit and hopefully make a bid for the finish. I started rolling again when Ben got his sprint points and bonus seconds.”
With four laps remaining and the gap between the bunch and the breakaway beginning to tumble, Owen attacked O’Connor. The American’s efforts afforded him another two laps out front. The peloton shut down the solo bid for glory just beyond the 18th passage of the finish line.
“I threw an attack there at the end to really give it my all,” said Owen. “I always knew it was going to be a long shot.”
The pace was too high in the peloton for any counter-attacks. Several teams jostled for control during the last lap. Team Sunweb and Quick-Step appeared the most organized, but it was Lotto-Soudal who delivered. André Griepel sprinted to his second 2018 Santos Tour Down Under stage win, a record-extending 18th career victory in Australia’s only WorldTour race.
Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-SCOTT) finished on bunch time to become the first South African to win the Santos Tour Down Under overall. Brendan Canty, EF Education First – Drapac p/b Cannodale’s best-placed general classification rider, closed out the week in 22nd place at 29-seconds.
“This was a great week,” said Owen. “It feels like a continuation of what I’ve already been doing with Axeon, my under-23 team. We were serious when we needed to be and had fun when we could. All in all, it was a solid start and a really awesome time. I think this is going to be a great year.”
KEV MONKS FOR DIGITAL SPORTS GROUP
Source: DSG
