Ric Reid led the peleton out and it was apparent that early on Ben Wilson and Ellingworth, the English Ampol-Caltex riders were working together at the head of the field. The showdown between their team-mates John Tanner and Chris Lillywhite was to come for the GC. The time bonuses for the stage were 20 secs for 1st, 15 for 2nd, 10 for 3rd and 5 for 4th. Lillywhite could take the tour GC by outsprinting his team-mate Tanner (as long as Tanner came in 3rd.
With 4 laps gone, Olivier Senn (Switzerland-Coca Cola) attacked and had a 30 metre lead after 1 lap. Bosch on the front was chasing Senn down but the gap went out to 8 secs by the next lap. Murray Spencer (NZ-Sanitarium) bridged the gap between the bunch and Senn and they started working well together extending the gap to 12 secs.
The main bunch started pressing with Grabsch (Ger-Bosch) and Bobbie Julich (US-Motorola) powering the chase and within 2 laps the two in front were swept up.
The next several laps were uneventful. The pace was high with Micheal Andersson (Swe-Sportscover) seemingly intent to drive the bunch at 50 kms per hour. He had no chance of winning the sprint so his tactics were a bit puzzling. He needed to bunch to slow then to use his power to attack. Instead he kept a fast steady tempo and the rest of the bunch went along for the ride.
4 laps to go, Julich was on the front and obviously trying to steal away and make a last effort for the stage win and perhaps the GC being 45 secs down at the start. Andersson, however, marks everything. Why? What is he working for?
3 to go, local rider (from Canberra) Baden Burke move up and shows his intentions. Julich seems resigned to a place on the podium and has giving up attacking. Bosch move up and are driving the race - Moster, Volker and Weissman at third wheel getting ready for the sprint. Lillywhite seen for the first time at the front.
2 to go, and Bosch are driving, then Burke, then Julich with Hincapie (the morning stage winner) now on his wheel. Julich looks over his shoulder and takes note that Hincapie is now there in the slot.
Bell lap, and it is Volker, Moster, Weissman, Julich, Hincapie, Burke, then Reid from NZ. Around the last bend, Volker if off the pace, Weissman in great position, Julich leads Hincapie out who grabs Weissman's faster wheel, and now Tanner and Lillywhite are coming through strongly to go for the bonus points.
The judges call for a photo b/tw Hincapie and Weissman. The German gets it by the narrowest of margins. Senn came from no-where for third. The big one though is that Lillywhite gets fourth and 5 bonus seconds, followed by Tanner in fifth (and no bonuses). The results is that Tanner and Lillywhite are tied on GC and a countback is required. When has that happened before? The procedure is that the one on the top of the points score wins. Tanner takes it as he won the points classification.