Recreating a podium experience would have been the perfect 30th birthday present for Ben Hill, but the Canberra cyclist walked away from the Herald Sun Tour with a consolation prize.
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Hill finished 39th in stage one of the five-day tour and took ownership of the most aggressive rider jersey on Wednesday afternoon.
He had his sights set on claiming the sprint jersey and won the second intermediate sprint, but his next attack got caught near the end of the 121.9km race from Nagambie to Shepparton.
"If we got away a bit earlier I would have been out the front for both sprints, and then had a chance to pick up the sprint jersey," Hill said.
"Because we got brought back for the first sprint, I only picked up one of the sprints and not enough points to pick up the jersey.
"That was a little disappointing but walking away with the most aggressive is the consolation prize and there's plenty more stages to pick up points for the sprint to come."
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Italian Alberto Dainese narrowly took out a bunch sprint ahead of Kaden Groves to win the first stage, while Australian Kaden Groves claimed silver and Netherland's Moreno Hofland bronze.
Hill will have a quiet birthday celebration before suiting up for the second stage of the tour from Beechworth to Falls Creek on Thursday.
"I think my form was pretty good, I felt really comfortable out there [on Wednesday]," Hill said.
"Stages two and four finish up with Falls Creek and Mt Buller, which are two big mountains and aren't really my forte.
"I'll take my opportunities where I can on these days to pick up some points or take some opportunities on stages three and five, then see if I can get a result from there."
Lucie Bertoldo
Lucie Bertoldo is a sports reporter for the Canberra Times.
Lucie Bertoldo is a sports reporter for the Canberra Times.
