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Kennaugh, Froome stay strong in cycling

As American John Murphy won stage three, Peter Kennaugh and Chris Froome remained in control of the Herald Sun Tour.

American sprinter John Murphy.
American cyclist John Murphy (L) has upstaged locals to win stage three of the Herald Sun Tour. (AAP)

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Source: AAP


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Peter Kennaugh and star cycling teammate Chris Froome remain rock-solid ahead of the Herald Sun Tour's decisive last stage.

Kennaugh preserved his overall lead in stage three on Saturday, won by American sprinter John Murphy.

Froome, the reigning Tour de France champion, also finished safely in the peloton ahead of Sunday's Queen stage to stay second overall.

Sunday's stage features three climbs of Arthurs Seat on the Mornington Peninsula, including a summit finish.

Kennaugh is usually a key domestique for Froome on the Sky team, but the two-time Tour de France champion let him win stage two and take the race lead.

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While Froome is a powerful backup option, he will work on Arthurs Seat to make sure Kennaugh preserves the lead and wins the Tour.

"That would be massive - it would be a great win for him, a great win for the team, so that's the plan," Froome said.

"I'm pretty sure he'll be fine.

"He's in good nick."

Kennaugh leads Froome by 13 seconds, with Australian Jack Bobridge (Trek Segafredo) next at 31 seconds.

Less than a minute separates the top 10 on general classification, but Froome and Kennaugh are yet to show any signs of weakness.

Last Sunday, Kennaugh won the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Rd race with a bold solo attack that lasted to the finish.

And Froome demonstrated he had come into his first race of the season with strong form when he and Kennaugh broke away from the rest of the peloton on a climb near the end of stage two.

This is also not a WorldTour race and other teams probably lack the collective firepower to put Sky on the back foot.

Froome only arrived in Melbourne on Tuesday, the day before the race started, and will see the Arthurs Seat climb for the first time when he races on it.

"I will just have to go off what everyone says," he said.

On Saturday, Murphy went one better for United Healthcare when he won the bunch sprint at the end of the 146.2km stage from Traralgon to Inverloch.

Teammate Tanner Putt finished second on Friday behind rising Australian star Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEDGE).

Murphy beat Bobridge's Italian teammate Niccolo Bonifazio by millimetres in a photo finish.

After working hard to cover attacks on the way to his stage three win, Ewan probably showed the effects when he had to settle for sixth.

Ewan has nine wins so far this year and it was the first time in 2016 that he had not won a sprint finish.


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