January 16/19 7:55 am - Tour Down Under: Stage 2

Posted by Editoress on 01/16/19
 

Bevin Heaven: Kiwi clinches first pro win in CCC colours

Paddy Bevin has clinched his first professional win, the Santos Ochre Leader’s jersey and given CCC Team a fairytale start to its new era with a determined sprint to the line in Novatech Stage 2.

A crash within the final kilometre prevented the majority of the peloton from contesting the finish. As they recovered, it was former winner Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) leading the combatants around the final bend.

With Caleb Ewan and Peter Sagan close by, Bevin used Sanchez to sling himself forward for the historic win – earning him the Santos Ochre Leader’s Jersey.

From the end of race neutral in the increasing slopes of Athelstone, King of the Mountain jersey-wearer Jason Lea (UniSA-Australia) attacked and was joined by Artyom Zakharov (Astana) and Jaime Castrillo (Movistar) on the climb to Checker Hill.

Opening up a gap of over three minutes, the breakaway contested the day’s only KOM climb at the 26 km mark, with Lea again taking maximum points from Zakharov to ensure he remained in the blue polka dots,

Zakharov was the man to take the Sprint points in Birdwood and Springton further up the road, before the runaways were caught by the peloton at the Feed Zone, just past the 60 km mark.

Groupama-FDJ rider braves the heat

Matthieu Ladagnous (Groupama-FDJ) made a break for it along with Manuele Boaro (Astana) on the run to Mengler Hill (a descent rather than the traditional climb). Boaro was ordered back to the bunch leaving Ladagnous on his own.

The veteran 34-year-old from the edge of the French Pyrenees established a two-minute gap over the peloton, but battling the humidity and heat of the 38 degrees creating a challenging environment for all riders – a man on a lone mission would be forced to manage the conditions without the aid of the peloton providing support from wind and rotating the workload.

It was no surprise that the Frenchman was caught, but he was allowed to come within 3km of the finish before being swallowed by the peloton after a valiant effort in the saddle.

He was awarded for his efforts with the day’s most competitive rider.

Crash causes new look to classifications

Bevin – a time triallist who effectively races the Tour Down Under as an all-rounder – now leads the GC from Elia Viviani (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) and Ewan, Walscheid (Sunweb) and Zakharov (Astana) all nine seconds back.

Mike Woods (EF Education First Pro Cycling) finished 12th on the stage in the same time as the winner and now sits 25th in the GC at 15 seconds back.

Jason Lea (UniSA-Australia) leads the Subaru King of the Mountains classification after again taking maximum points on the stage, while Viviani will slip back into the sprint jersey. Ewan is the new southaustralia.com Best Young Rider.

Results from the second stage on Australia

Tour Down Under: Stage 1