Greig Leach

Today’s stage was a team time trial, the first in almost sixty years contested in the Paris Nice race. Jayco-Alula went out hot and seemed to keep building speed as they went around the 32 kilometer course. The discipline has each teammates spending time on the front pushing through the wind as those behind get a bit of a break until it is their turn to put their nose into the wind. This is the first time each rider will be given their actual finish time, and the team’s time will be taken by the first rider to cross the line. Usually, the clock stops on the fourth or fifth rider to cross the line, and that is the time given to each member of the team. Lucas Hamilton had just finished his turned on the front, but it was all he had to give. As he swung away, he simply drifted on past his teammates; Chris Harper, Matteo Sobrero, Simon Yates, Luke Durbridge, and Kellan O’Brien. Their sprinter, Michael Matthews had already been dropped by the group setting new best times all along the course.