Porte and Woods a cut above the rest on gravel at Herald Sun Tour

They were the two favourites going into the 2019 Jayco Herald Sun Tour, and on Thursday's second stage from Wonthaggi to Churchill, which included a gravel climb in the final 15 kilometres, Michael Woods (EF Education First) and Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) demonstrated exactly why.

Woods' attack just before the start of the gravel sector on the day's final climb drew Porte with him from a select group made up of Kenny Elissonde, Pavel Sivakov and Dylan van Baarle (Team Sky), Mitchelton-Scott trio Lucas Hamilton, Nick Schultz and 2017 Sun Tour winner Damien Howson, as well as the only non-WorldTour rider to make the selection, Chris Harper (Team Bridgelane).

When Porte and Woods hit the gravel, it wasn't enough to slow them down, and they continued to open up a gap on their rivals as first Woods, followed a second or two later by Porte, crested the climb and began their descent on the continuing gravel for a short way before it gave way to some more familiar tarmac.

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Woods was happy for Porte to make contact on the descent, and the two agreed to work together until – Woods said – the final kilometre, where Porte was frustrated to see Woods take a back seat before coming around him in the final few hundred metres to take the stage win and the leader's jersey.

"I figured Richie would get back on on the descent because he's such a strong time-triallist, and I didn’t want to gas myself trying to hold him off," Woods said afterwards.

"I just wanted to put him under some stress and see if he could take the descent nice and fast, and see if he could get back on. And he did, because he’s such a strong rider."

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