Benalla, AUS - The Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis once again successfully defended the overall lead of Karl Menzies in the Jayco Herald SunTour.

The day played out much like yesterday's stage. After a number of attempts, a 16-man break with the right mix of teams and no GC riders got away, eventually building a lead of six minutes over the Health Net Presented by Maxis-led peloton.

With 25 km to go, the lead group nearly blew apart in the crosswinds. The break split, with a lead group opening a gap of 40 seconds, until Hilton Clarke (Navigators) buried himself to close it. Finally, it was his brother Johnny (South Australia-AIS) who initiated the decisive move out of the break, taking Peter McDonald (FRF Couriers), local boy David Tanner (Australian U23 Team) and Satoshi Hirose (Japan National Team) with him. Hirose nudged out Tanner in a photo finish for the stage win, while Hilton Clarke succeeded in taking over the sprint competition lead from second-overall Tobias Erler (Giant Asia). Erler was able to narrow his deficit on Menzies to four seconds by placing in a early bonus sprint.

Menzies and the main peloton rolled in 9:16 behind the stage winner.

"My Health Net-Maxxis teammates took up the responsibility again today," Menzies told Cycling News. "Just keeping the bunch where it should be. But who knows what is going to happen tomorrow."

Thursday's stage could prove decisive in the race, ending with a 22 km climb up to Lake Mountain.

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