Harry Sweeny came into the Santos Tour Down Under with no expectations, saying before the race that he hadn’t changed his preparation as his main objectives lay later in the spring. He stated, in a team release, that he would “still be racing TDU with everything I’ve got, but this will be a few percent less than my peak.”
Despite that, the EF Education-Easypost rider was at the sharp end of the action on the difficult stage 2, which featured the double ascent of the Corkscrew climb.
“To be honest, actually, the whole summer and also so far, I've been going way better than I thought. I thought my power meter was broken for the last few weeks, actually,” Sweeny, with a laugh, told Seven commentators after the stage finished in Uraidla, “but I've been feeling good. I've been happy, which is really important.”
Not only his form, but a call from the team CEO Jonathan Vaughters, changed his focus going into the first WorldTour race of the season.
“I came into this race with no expectations at all and then I got a call from JV, the boss, and he was just like, 'why aren't you going to ride GC here?' And I thought, actually, it's a good point. Maybe I will give it a crack, and that's about it.”
The Australian, along with his Canadian teammate Michael Leonard, stayed safely in the bunch, surviving the massive acceleration of Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), which shelled riders off the back on the second time up Corkscrew Road.
Though neither of them could follow the massive counter-attack by the UAE duo of Jay Vine and Jhonatan Narváez, Sweeny managed to coalesce a chase group that would battle it out for third place, as Leonard stayed in the second chase group.
“When we just got over the top, everyone was pretty on the limit, and it wasn't really very cohesive at all. But then, as soon as I attacked after, and we got a group of, I don't know, five or 10 it was much easier to work and people were actually willing to because I think they realised that it was a race. But I mean, it's hard when there are two UAE up the road, they just work so well together, and hats off to them,” Sweeny added.
Sweeny finished ninth on the stage from the chase group, crossing the line 58 seconds behind the winner Vine, and moved up to fourth overall, 1:12 down on Vine, but more importantly, only seven seconds away from third place.
Leonard finished safely in the second chase group, a further 10 seconds back and moved up to seventh overall, 1:22 down. He now leads the best young rider classification and is tied on time with Andrea Raccagni Noviero (Soudal-Quickstep).
“We rode super efficient. We had a really good plan and we stuck to it. So I think we're in a good position with two of us still in the GC going into the next days,” Leonard told reporters after being presented with the white best young rider’s jersey.
Though Leonard, who joined EF in 2026, agrees that getting the jersey was “a great way for me to start my time with the team”, he admits that the main target is the overall general classification and stage results.
“And then keep this [white jersey] sort of in the back of our minds, and we'll assess the situation day by day, and do our best to work together and get the best results possible as a team.”
Sweeny and Leonard now turn their attention to the upcoming stages, starting with the expected bunch sprint on stage 3, and then stage 4 with its three ascents of the iconic Willunga Hill before the final stage to Stirling.
“We didn't do our best lead out possible yesterday,” Sweeny said of stage 1 where their sprinter Luke Lamperti finished tenth in the bunch sprint. “But I really enjoy having a different aspect, something else to focus on. And obviously I enjoy working for other people as well, but it's also nice to have opportunities like this.”
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