From domestique to the podium: Harry Sweeny steps into the light at the Tour Down Under
For years, Harry Sweeny has been one of the quiet constants of the WorldTour peloton. Reliable, selfless, and almost always riding for others. At the Tour Down Under, that script finally shifted. Sweeny finished third overall, his first major general classification result after seasons spent as a domestique.
“It’s the first time in a long time that I’ve really raced for myself,” Sweeny said afterwards to Domestique. “I had the team’s blessing and the full support of the boys. We used every single man we had, and I can’t thank them enough.”
Riding as a leader did not come naturally at first. Sweeny admitted the mental adjustment was almost harder than the physical one. “Telling the guys where to be, calling them back, asking them to do things, that’s not really my style,” he said. “I’m usually the one doing it for someone else. It’s a mindset shift, but it’s something I’m learning.”
That learning curve, however, came with immediate reward. Backed fully by EF-Education EasyPost, Sweeny rode with confidence throughout the week and emerged as one of the revelations of the race. “I had special legs,” he said simply, before returning the credit to his teammates.
The result also echoed a longer running ambition within the team. In the Domestique Hotseat, EF team boss Jonathan Vaughters recently was blunt about what he wants next. “I really want to see Harry win a bike race,” Vaughters said. “We’ve put a lot of effort into developing him, and I’d like to see that start to show when he goes to races where Ben [Healy] or Richard [Carapaz] aren’t there, so he doesn’t have to watch out for them and can go for the win.”
Sweeny himself hinted that the Tour Down Under may have opened new doors. “Jonathan Vaughters has been on the phone telling me I need to ask for leadership more,” he said with a smile. “So yeah, I’m going to try and do that and see how it goes.”
Even amid the chaos of the final stage, including the now infamous kangaroo incident, Sweeny kept his focus. “I nearly got taken out as well,” he laughed. “We were going about sixty kilometres an hour and suddenly there were two of them. Not something you see every day.”
Third overall may not yet be the win Vaughters is chasing, but for Sweeny, it was more than a result. A change of role, and a glimpse of what could come next.
Result stage 5 Tour Down Under
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