Former Bendigo-based cyclist Mark O'Brien is on track for victory in the Merv Dean Memorial Tour of Bendigo.
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With Monday's final stage remaining, O'Brien leads by 28 seconds from Bendigo's Sam Eddy, with Ballarat's Liam White a further 42 seconds behind in third place.
O'Brien set up his big sleeve with a dominant performance in Sunday's 117.5km stage two around Harcourt and Mt Alexander.
Originally from Horsham and now riding for Carnegie-Caulfield, O'Brien showed his class on the hills by blowing his rivals away on the testing Mt Alexander climb.
O'Brien covered the 117km stage in 3:01.50 - 32 seconds clear of a gallant Eddy, while South Australia's Aston Freeth was third another 11 seconds behind.
O'Brien had started day two in fourth place after Hamilton's Jack Aitken won Saturday's opening stage from Chewton to Newstead and back to Chewton.
O'Brien was 20 seconds behind Aitken, but he took little time to gain top spot on Sunday.
Eddy, who was ninth after day one, made up seven places on day two.
A safe ride in Monday's final stage at Harcourt should be enough for O'Brien to secure victory - 11 years after he was beaten by one second in the 2012 tour.
Several Bendigo riders have a chance to secure top-10 finishes overall.
Tali Lane Welsh is in seventh place, Alexander Evans is ninth, Connor Sens is 13th and Curtis Harrison is 15th with one day remaining.
The A-grade stage on Monday starts at 12.15pm with the field to complete six laps of an 11.7km circuit around North Harcourt. The start-finish line is on McIvor Rd.
The B-grade title will go down to the wire.
Echuca-Moama's Max Trewhella holds a five-second lead over Bendigo's Harry Nankervis going into the final day.
The next best placed Bendigo rider is Caelan Shawyer, who is in fourth place - 29 seconds behind the leader.
Seymour's Jake Lay is in the box seat to claim the C-grade crown.
Lay leads Mansfield-Mt Buller's Talia Appleton by 48 seconds going into the last stage.
Bendigo's Sharni Morley is a further 10 seconds back in third place.
The final stage of the tour in B-grade is scheduled to start at 10.45am on Monday morning, with C-grade to start at 9.30am.
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