Harry Sweeny (EF Education-Easypost) doesn’t often find himself in the position of having to call the shots as team leader at a race, but after the expectation-exceeding performance he delivered at the Tour Down Under, that could well change.
“If you told me a month ago I’d be on the GC podium, it would be a surprise,” said Sweeny, but on Sunday, he was stepping up to the stage in Stirling at the Australian WorldTour opener to celebrate third overall behind a dominant winner Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla).
“The week leading in, I felt really special, and I had some really good legs, and it was the first time in a long time that I’ve asked to ride for myself,” said Sweeny.
It was clear from early on that the 27-year-old Australian had stepped into a different realm, delivering a more than respectable 14th in the prologue and then quickly shooting up the results table to fourth on stage 2 when he helped pull together a chase group of eight that went out in pursuit of the flying duo from UAE Team Emirates, Vine and Jhonatan Narváez.
From then he didn’t falter, coping with the intense heat likely with the help of some seriously hot days of training in Victoria before the race. Then, when Narváez crashed on stage 4, all of a sudden, that fourth became third.
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