Thomas wins the battle of Corkscrew

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Geraint Thomas (Sky) has won Stage 2 of the Tour Down Under following a thrilling attack on Corkscrew Hill, the day coming to an entertaining crescendo. Javier Moreno (Movistar) could not keep up with the Brit who led out the sprint with 300 metres to go, with Ben Hermans (RadioShack Leopard), third.

The victory sees Thomas move into the race lead with a five second advantage from Moreno. Hermans sits a further two seconds back.

"It was a good day really," said Thomas as the finish line.

"I felt good right from the start. I've worked really hard in the winter."

Thomas had charged up the Corkscrew climb which began around 10km from the finish line in Rostrevor, in pursuit of Kiwi George Bennett (RadioShack Leopard) who had opened up a gap on the lead riders. Easing past Bennett, Thomas seemingly cruised his way up the steep ascent to claim maximum points at the KOM point.

Bennett, Ben Hermans (RadioShack Leopard) and Javier Moreno (Movistar) joined Thomas on the fast descent and on the run into the finish, the Olympic Champion was keeping a watchful eye from the back of the group.

Skirting around his companions, Thomas opened up the sprint early for a win that was never threatened once the finish line was in sight.

Thomas was among the names counted as a possibility for the overall, but very few would have expected him to be wearing ochre so soon, with Stage 2 previewed to be a battle between Philippe Gilbert (BMC) and Simon Gerrans (Orica GreenEdge). Asked if he could hold on to the lead, Thomas was non-committal.

"We'll take tomorrow first, just take it day by day," he said.

"I came here just wanting to work hard and possibly get a stage.

"So I've done that and that's fantastic - GC would be a massive bonus now if it happened."

How it unfolded...

With just one kilometre of neutral, attacks came thick and fast from the drop of the flag for the short 116.5km stage. Recent winner of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour, Calvin Watson (UniSA - Australia) was first man out of the blocks and he was soon joined by Christopher Juul Jensen (Saxo - Tinkoff), Guillaume Bonnafond (AG2R) and stage winner in 2012, Will Clarke (Argos - Shimano).

The four chipped away at the gap and soon opened up an advantage of 2:20 at the 27km mark. With the general classification on the line, despite being just the second stage, it was no surprise that this would be as big as the gap got.

The first sprint of the day with just over 32km of racing done was won by Clarke, ahead of Watson and Bonnafond with only really the lead two fighting it out for the points and valuable time bonuses.

The 20-odd kilometre loop through Hahndorf saw the gap hovering at around the minute-and-a-half mark.

The second sprint was again won by Clarke, with Bonnafond in pursuit.

BMC’s intentions for the day, with Philippe Gilbert eyeing the general classification lead, were clear with Martin Kohler patrolling the front of the bunch. With 40km to go, and the peloton winding its way through the Cudlee Creek Road, the breakaway was in sight with a gap beginning to tumble.

Bernard Eisel (Sky) and Luke Durbridge (Orica GreenEdge) were consistently taking turns on the front of the peloton. Not far behind was the Lotto Belisol team who were protecting the interests of Ochre Jersey Andre Greipel. Meantime, after a stack of work earlier in the day, Andy Schleck (RadioShack Leopard) was content to sit at the very back.

Breakaway specialist Clarke had his orders from the team car and the plan was to hang on for as long as possible. With 97km of racing complete, it was the 27-year-old Australian who remained stoic off the front but he soon realised that the battle for an early advantage in GC was going to swallow any lead he had, sitting up.

Multiple attacks went off the front of the bunch as the climb began at 10km to go to the finish, with Yann Huguet (Argos Shimano) and Simon Clarke (Orica GreenEdge) who was attempting to set up for Simon Gerrans, among the first of the opening shots. The swarming bunch was unwilling to let anyone get much of a gap. Andrey Amador (Movistar) and Matthew Lloyd (Lampre) were next, before pre-stage favourite Kiwi George Bennett (RadioShack Leopard) launched an attack.

The 22-year-old was soon joined by Geraint Thomas (Sky) who motored past his companion and headed for the top of the KOM without looking threatened.

Javier Moreno (Movistar) would follow, and then Bennett and teammate Hermans. Thomas was soon caught by his pursuants on the descent, just as carnage was taking place in their wake.

"At one point I did think 'what have I done? Have I gone too early?'" Thomas said following his win. "But I bit the bullet as they say and dug in."

At least 20 riders came to grief, 15 of those hitting the road and the ambulance called. Among those was Gilbert who would be pushed to the finish line by his teammates with a wrecked rear derailleur. Jesse Sergeant, Jens Voigt (RadioShack Leopard), Bernard Sulzberger (UniSA - Australia), and Cameron Wurf (Cannondale) were other casualties. Amaud Courteille (FDJ) was the only rider not to finish the race, taken to hospital with a possible broken nose and mild concussion while Movistar’s Giovanni Visconti was taken to hospital for precautionary x-rays. Ian Stannard (Sky), Jose Herrade (Movistar), Tomaz Marczynski (Vacansoleil), Julian Kearn, Blel Kadri (AG2R), Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel Euskadi) were treated at the finish for cuts and abrasions.

Sulzberger had a dislocated finger which he fixed himself.

"We were jumping back on (to the front group) and someone crashed on the corner," the Tasmanian rider explained. "It was just like dominoes, really - disappointing," he concluded, firm of the belief that the group would have contested the finish.

With the finish line in sight, Thomas, Bennett, Hermans and Moreno maintained a small gap over a group of 11 riders who could never quite bridge across. The Kiwi would lose touch and fall in with the chase group of Tom Jelte Slagter, Wilco Kelderman (Blanco), Tim Wellens, Adam Hansen (Lotto Belisol), Daniele Pietropolli (Lampre-Merida), Jack Bauer (Garmin Sharp), Ion Izagirre and Gorka Izagirre (Euskaltel Euskadi), Kenny Elissonde, Jussi Veikkanen (FDJ) and Tiago Machado (RadioShack Leopard).

Thomas had time to celebrate as he crossed the finish line, relieved that he had eluded the chase bunch which he knew was coming after him.

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