| 2017 Herald Sun Tour | |
| Series: | UCI Oceania Tour |
| Date: | 1–5 February 2017 |
| Stages: | 5 |
| Distance: | 630.5 |
| Unit: | km |
| Time: | 15h 25' 13"[1] |
| First: | Damien Howson |
| First Nat: | Australia |
| First Color: | yellow |
| Second: | Jai Hindley |
| Second Nat: | Australia |
| Second Team: | Australia (national team) |
| Third: | Kenny Elissonde |
| Third Nat: | France |
| Sprints: | Jacob Kauffmann |
| Sprints Nat: | Australia |
| Sprints Color: | green |
| Mountains: | Ben Hill |
| Mountains Nat: | Australia |
| Mountains Color: | black dotted |
| Youth: | Jai Hindley |
| Youth Nat: | Australia |
| Youth Team: | Australia (national team) |
| Youth Color: | white |
| Previous: | 2016 |
| Next: | 2018 |
The 2017 Jayco Herald Sun Tour was a road cycling stage race that took place in Victoria, Australia, between 1 and 5 February 2017. The race was rated as a 2.1 event as part of the 2017 UCI Oceania Tour. The race included five stages: the first was a 2.1km (01.3miles) prologue individual time trial stage, with the remaining four stages being road stages. The champion of the 2016 Herald Sun Tour, Chris Froome attempted to defend his title.[2]
The race was won by Damien Howson of,[3] [4] who took his first professional victories at the race; having won the race's queen stage to Falls Creek,[5] [6] Howson was able to maintain a 38-second race lead for the remainder of the Tour. The remaining podium places were taken by those that finished immediately behind Howson at Falls Creek; Jai Hindley finished second for an Australian select team, and took out the white jersey for the young rider classification, while a further 15 seconds in arrears, Kenny Elissonde took third place for .[1]
Just as he did in the 2016 edition of the race, 's Ben Hill won a jersey, this time taking the polka dot jersey as winner of the mountains classification, while Jacob Kauffmann took the green jersey as winner of the sprints classification for the .[1] The teams classification was won by, having taking three of the five stage victories through Luke Rowe, Ian Stannard and Danny van Poppel.[7]
Fifteen teams were invited to take part in the race. These included two UCI WorldTeams, four UCI Professional Continental teams, seven UCI Continental teams and two national teams.[8]
The race route was released on 1 December 2016, with a route described by race director, and former three-time race winner, John Trevorrow as the "toughest course in recent history".[9]
| Stage | Date | Route | Distance | Type | Winner | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 February | Melbourne | 2.1km (01.3miles) | Individual time trial | ||||
| 1 | 2 February | Wangaratta to Falls Creek | 174.2km (108.2miles) | Hilly stage | |||
| 2 | 3 February | Mount Beauty to Beechworth | 165.5km (102.8miles) | Flat stage | |||
| 3 | 4 February | Benalla to Mitchelton Winery, Nagambie | 167.7km (104.2miles) | Hilly stage | |||
| 4 | 5 February | Kinglake to Kinglake | 121km (75miles) | Hilly stage | |||
| Stage | Winner | General classification | Sprint classification | Mountains classification | Young rider classification | Most competitive rider | Team classification | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P[15] | Danny van Poppel | Danny van Poppel | not awarded | not awarded | Ayden Toovey | not awarded | ||
| 1[16] | Damien Howson | Damien Howson | Jacob Kauffmann | Damien Howson | Jai Hindley | Steven Lampier | Australia (national team) | |
| 2[17] | Luke Rowe | Ben Hill | Luke Rowe | |||||
| 3[18] | Travis McCabe | Aaron Gate | ||||||
| 4 | Ian Stannard | Cyrus Monk | ||||||
| Final | Damien Howson | Jacob Kauffmann | Ben Hill | Jai Hindley | no final award | |||