Tour Down Under 2018 – Stage 2 [FULL STAGE]

January 17, 2018

Tour Down Under 2018 – Stage 2 – Unley – Stirling : 148,6 km

The 2018 Tour Down Under is a road cycling stage race, that is taking place between 16 and 21 January 2018 in South Australia. It is the 20th edition of the Tour Down Under and the first race of the 2018 UCI World Tour.

Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott) got redemption for his stage 1 loss at the Tour Down Under, taking out the uphill stage 2 sprint Wednesday in Stirling ahead of teammate Daryl Impey and seizing the overall race lead as well.

Ewan was calm and comfortable as the peloton circled the loop around Stirling the last of three times, then he waited for Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) to jump in the sprint before launching from is own lead-out and overtaking the world champion at the line. Impey also slipped past Sagan for second, with Sagan’s teammate Jay McCarthy finishing third. Sagan missed the podium in fourth.

Ewan now leads the overall by 10 seconds over Impey and 12 seconds over Sagan and McCarthy.

“I heard on the radio that Greipel had been dropped on the last climb, so I’m happy to be back in ochre,” Ewan said. “It’s just good to get that confidence back after the last few races.”

Ewan lost to Sagan in the People’s Choice Classic and fell to Greipel on stage 1, but he looked strong and confident during the stage 2 run to Stirling and then on the three 21km finishing circuits.

“I hid pretty well in the field,” he said. “I’ve done this circuit before so I know where I can relax and when I need to be at the front. The boys did the same thing. We were relaxed when we could and went hard when we needed to.”

The stage win and overall lead are huge prizes for Ewan, who wasn’t sure that he’d be in position to contest the sprint after the climb to the finish.

“It was something we were all unsure about, whether I’d make it over the top,” he admitted. “The boys put me in a perfect position again, and this team backed me 100 per cent even though some results haven’t went perfect for us. So for them to back me on a stage that doesn’t even suit me, it means a lot.”

The 148.6km stage from Unley to Stirling was contested under stifling conditions with temperatures above 30 degrees. That didn’t deter the escape artists, however, and as soon as the lengthy 14km neutral roll out was over a group of four slipped away.

In the group were three riders who escaped on the previous stage: Will Clarke (EF Education First-Drapac), Nicholas Dlamini (Dimension Data) and Scott Bowden (UniSA-Australia). They were joined on this outing by Movistar neo-pro Jaimie Castrillo.

The peloton let the leaders build their gap out to more than six minutes as they rode toward Stirling. Dlamini, wearing the mountains jersey he won the day before, took maximum points on the first and only KOM just 12.8km into the day. With his lead in the mountains competition extended, the South African rider sat up and slipped back into the peloton.

Clarke, Bowden and Castillo continued on, with Clarke picking up maximum bonus seconds on both intermediate sprints at 45.9km and 77.3km. Like Dlamini, Clarke collected his bonuses and then sat up, choosing to slip back into the peloton with the virtual race lead. Bowden decided to join his fellow Australian and sat up as well.

Castrillo was a bit hungrier, however, and soldiered on alone. The 21-year-old held on until just under 15km remaining before the peloton swept him up. From there it was a constant battle for position as teams swapped out setting the pace that eventually saw some of the sprinters – and especially Greipel – jettisoned from the bunch.

Results :
1 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 4:03:55
2 Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott
3 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
4 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
5 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin
6 Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
7 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
8 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
9 Luis León Sánchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team
10 Carlos Barbero Cuesta (Spa) Movistar Team
11 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
12 Anthony Roux (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
13 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
14 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
15 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team
16 Timothy Roe (Aus) UniSA-Australia
17 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
18 Jon Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
19 Rui Alberto Faria da Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
20 Robert Gesink (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
21 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
22 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team
23 Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data
24 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) Trek-Segafredo
25 Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) Team Sky
26 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team
27 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
28 Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Astana Pro Team
29 Georg Preidler (Aut) Groupama-FDJ
30 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
31 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data
32 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
33 George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo
34 Nathan Earle (Aus) UniSA-Australia
35 Mickael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
36 Chris Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
37 Brendan Canty (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
38 Lars Ytting Bak (Den) Lotto Soudal
39 Jhonatan Restrepo (Col) Katusha-Alpecin
40 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Sunweb
41 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
42 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo
43 Rubén Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
44 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky
45 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale
46 Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek-Segafredo
47 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data
48 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data
49 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky 0:00:11
50 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team 0:00:13
51 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal
52 William Clarke (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
53 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:00:16
54 Maarten Wynants (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:27
55 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:32
56 Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
57 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo
58 Simon Gerrans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
59 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
60 Miles Scotson (Aus) BMC Racing Team
61 Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team
62 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team 0:00:40
63 Daan Olivier (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
64 Koen de Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:50
65 Tiago Machado (Por) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:54
66 Patrick Bevin (NZl) BMC Racing Team
67 Tom Leezer (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:58
68 Steele von Hoff (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:01:03
69 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:01:04
70 Nuno Bico (Por) Movistar Team
71 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:13
72 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:01:15
73 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:42
74 Jack Bauer (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
75 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:01:46
76 Marco Marcato (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:49
77 Matteo Bono (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
78 Thomas Scully (NZl) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:02:09
79 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:02:18
80 Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:43
81 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Quick-Step Floors
82 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:02:46
83 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida
84 Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Katusha-Alpecin 0:03:03
85 Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:03:21
86 Alex Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
87 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin 0:03:26
88 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb 0:03:28
89 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:03:46
90 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
91 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
92 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
93 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Astana Pro Team
94 Jacobus Venter (RSA) Dimension Data 0:05:15
95 Alex Porter (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:05:37
96 Riccardo Minali (Ita) Astana Pro Team
97 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:05:51
98 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:06:01
99 Mitchell Docker (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
100 Truls Engen Korsaeth (Nor) Astana Pro Team
101 Chris Lawless (GBr) Team Sky 0:07:21
102 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Team Sky
103 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
104 Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal
105 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data
106 Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
107 Mads Würtz Schmidt (Den) Katusha-Alpecin 0:08:31
108 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:09:55
109 Robert Wagner (Ger) LottoNL-Jumbo
110 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Groupama-FDJ
111 Jaime Castrillo (Spa) Movistar Team
112 Rudiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
113 Nicholas Dlamini (RSA) Dimension Data
114 Florian Sénéchal (Fra) Quick-Step Floors
115 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
116 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Soudal
117 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
118 Logan Owen (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:11:09
119 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
120 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:14:49
121 Alex Frame (NZl) Trek-Segafredo
122 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
123 Steve Morabito (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
124 Scott Bowden (Aus) UniSA-Australia
125 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe
126 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:19:26
127 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Bahrain-Merida 0:24:11
128 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Groupama-FDJ
129 Sam Welsford (Aus) UniSA-Australia
130 Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Team Sky
DNS Daniel Hoelgaard (Nor) Groupama-FDJ

General Classification after Stage 2 :
1 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 7:54:00
2 Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:10
3 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:12
4 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
5 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:15
6 Jhonatan Restrepo (Col) Katusha-Alpecin
7 Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:16
8 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
9 Carlos Barbero Cuesta (Spa) Movistar Team
10 Anthony Roux (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
11 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
12 Robert Gesink (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
13 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
14 George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo
15 Georg Preidler (Aut) Groupama-FDJ
16 Luis León Sánchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team
17 Rui Alberto Faria da Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates
18 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
19 Jon Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
20 Mickael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
21 Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) Team Sky
22 Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data
23 Chris Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
24 Rubén Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
25 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
26 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team
27 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
28 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) Trek-Segafredo
29 Nathan Earle (Aus) UniSA-Australia
30 Brendan Canty (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
31 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
32 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data
33 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team
34 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team
35 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo
36 Lars Ytting Bak (Den) Lotto Soudal
37 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
38 Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Astana Pro Team
39 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
40 Timothy Roe (Aus) UniSA-Australia
41 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data
42 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data
43 Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek-Segafredo
44 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
45 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale
46 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky
47 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
48 William Clarke (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:00:17
49 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Team Sky 0:00:27
50 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team 0:00:29
51 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal
52 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:00:32
53 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Sunweb
54 Maarten Wynants (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:43
55 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:48
56 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
57 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
58 Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
59 Simon Gerrans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
60 Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team
61 Miles Scotson (Aus) BMC Racing Team
62 Daan Olivier (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:56
63 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team
64 Koen de Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:06
65 Patrick Bevin (NZl) BMC Racing Team 0:01:10
66 Tiago Machado (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
67 Tom Leezer (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:14
68 Steele von Hoff (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:01:19
69 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:01:20
70 Nuno Bico (Por) Movistar Team
71 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:29
72 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:01:59
73 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:02:02
74 Marco Marcato (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:05
75 Matteo Bono (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
76 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:02:16
77 Thomas Scully (NZl) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:02:25
78 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:02:34
79 Jack Bauer (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott 0:02:53
80 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Quick-Step Floors 0:02:59
81 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:03:02
82 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida
83 Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Katusha-Alpecin 0:03:19
84 Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:03:23
85 Alex Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:03:37
86 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin 0:03:42
87 Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:03:55
88 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:04:02
89 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
90 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
91 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal
92 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Astana Pro Team
93 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb 0:04:10
94 Jacobus Venter (RSA) Dimension Data 0:05:31
95 Riccardo Minali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:05:53
96 Alex Porter (Aus) UniSA-Australia
97 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:06:07
98 Mitchell Docker (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:06:17
99 Truls Engen Korsaeth (Nor) Astana Pro Team
100 Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:07:27
101 Chris Lawless (GBr) Team Sky 0:07:37
102 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data
103 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
104 Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
105 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Team Sky 0:08:01
106 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:08:05
107 Mads Würtz Schmidt (Den) Katusha-Alpecin 0:08:47
108 Nicholas Dlamini (RSA) Dimension Data 0:10:07
109 Jaime Castrillo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:10:08
110 Antoine Duchesne (Can) Groupama-FDJ 0:10:11
111 Rudiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
112 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
113 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto Soudal
114 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Lotto Soudal
115 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
116 Florian Sénéchal (Fra) Quick-Step Floors 0:11:06
117 Logan Owen (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:11:25
118 Robert Wagner (Ger) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:12:24
119 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:13:22
120 Scott Bowden (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:15:02
121 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:15:05
122 Steve Morabito (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
123 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
124 Alex Frame (NZl) Trek-Segafredo 0:15:33
125 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:18:41
126 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:19:42
127 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Bahrain-Merida 0:24:27
128 Sam Welsford (Aus) UniSA-Australia
129 Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Team Sky
130 Davide Cimolai (Ita) Groupama-FDJ 0:24:51