Luke Barnes (Australian National Team) last visited the Tour Down Under about 15 years ago. He was 10 years old at the time and visited the city to see riders such as Cadel Evans and Stuart O'Grady (now race director), but this time Barnes was wearing the number.

After winning the mountains prize on stage 2, Burns was already on the podium in his first World Tour race. This would not be his last race.

The 25-year-old triathlete built a solid lead in the KOM race when he attacked near the start of Wednesday's Norwood to Robetal stage and escaped with Jardi van der Lee (EF Education-Easy Post).

"Going into the Tour, I kind of had that plan in the back of my mind, and yesterday I had a chance to score some points to set it up," Barnes, who finished on the podium with the KOM jersey, told Cycling News.

"Luckily, it was a perfect scenario. I made the first move and it was just the two of us up the road.

Van der Lee and Burns were absorbed by the pack after more than 100 km, ending their day at the front.

"We were just tapping along, and we knew it was going to be pretty hard to pull away," Van der Lee said. We were chasing points and wanted to get some exposure for the team."

The gap at times exceeded five minutes, but by the time the top pair dominated the last mountain point of the day and headed into the final lap, the gap was down to about two minutes.

"Going into the last lap, I was talking to Matt Wilson [DS of the Australian team] about whether it was worth punching out to keep the gap. It was worth persevering."

Shutting up and conserving energy seemed to be a wise strategy for the road ahead.

"Absolutely that's the goal," said team sport director Wilson. 'I think he has a very good chance. Generally, these kinds of jerseys are a little easier than coming from behind if you start defending with a little bit of spacing."

"There are a lot of points available until the last day, so the game won't be decided until the last stage. He's got good support and he's obviously in good shape."

Burns has taken top points in two of his three chances in the second stage.

The rider is relatively new to racing on a motorcycle, but has quickly gained experience and is producing solid results. Last season, when he rode around Europe with his Bridge Lane team, he finished sixth overall in the 2.2 Tour de la Mirabelle and finished outside the top 10 overall in three more races.

"My goal is to make a professional team," Barnes said. "I have a lot more potential to grow as a 25-year-old compared to the 25-year-olds who have been doing this sport longer. I think I progressed faster because I was doing triathlons at a very high level."

The rider from Victoria also took on the Tour of Bright, one of the state-level races used by national champion Luke Plapp (Jayco Aroura) as part of his training. He finished second to Plapp in the stage that ended at the top of Mt. Buffalo, and showed his climbing form by steering Plapp longer than anyone else.

Burns will try to keep up with the plops and major overall contenders as long as possible over the weekend. While some KOM points will be earned in the next two sprint stages, the total number of top points will be 13, and 50 in the last two stages. The good news for Burns, however, is that 40 of the 50 points available over the weekend will be determined before the final summit stage, so in many cases he won't have to worry about the final finish line. Says Wilson. If he has to fight with the best climbers here, he may have a tough time. But the KOM award is not necessarily won on the last climb, but on the one before that.

Unlimited access to all Cycling News coverage of the Tour Down Under and Women's Tour Down Under, including reports, breaking news, and analysis from Australia. Details.