Brenton Jones fastest man in the break at Adelaide Tour

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Brenton Jones (Avanti Racing) continued his winning ways in 2014 by sprinting to Stage two of the Jarvis Subaru Adelaide Tour while fourth place for Brodie Talbot (Budget Forklifts) put him in the leader’s yellow jersey.

"I was targeting this stage, it's a strong man's course that suits me and my form has been great so far this season, so I knew I'd have a good crack for the win today,” said Jones who won the  Michelton Bay Series in January and also took home a stage win at the New Zealand Cycle Classic in February.

"I'm pleased that I got another win for 2014, the Avanti Racing Team rode very strong today and we now lead the teams classification too."

The 156km stage came alive in the final 20km as a series of attacks splintered the peloton as Jones, Talbot, plus Jeremy Cameron (African Wildlife Safari), Stuart Smith (health.com.au-search2retain) and New Zealand’s Keagan Girdlestone, formed the decisive final breakaway inside the final 10km isolating race leader Wes Sulzberger (Drapac) in their wake.

The quintet built an unbeatable lead of more than a minute before they took on the two dirt sections which highlighted the final few kilometres of the course, with Jones taking it on the line over over Smith and Cameron.

"The team worked really well today, put pressure on the field on a number of occasions, which caused Drapac to fatigue lap by lap," explained Jones. "We definitely isolated them, but also rode smart enough to put four or five of us in the front group.

"I was lucky enough to follow the right move, and I knew that once I was up the road in that situation, I did have good legs all day, and I have good form.

"I also knew Brodie was going for the GC and he was driving it the whole way home, so I was just sitting on him and hoping my team would come across, but they couldn’t bridge that gap and I got the stage as a bonus for the team which is great."

Sulzberger and his Drapac team couldn't control the break and after starting the day 29 seconds in arrears to Sulzberger, Talbot ended the day with a 24 second advantage over the rest of the peloton. 

"It was always the plan to try to get away in the final 15 kilometres as that is the hardest part of the race and it worked perfectly,” said Talbot, who reached the GC podium at last year's National Capital Tour.

"We have a really strong team here and today really was a team effort to get me the win and I am confident the boys can defend it for me tomorrow."

 Keagan Girdlestone is in third place, a further eleven seconds behind.

In the first of three laps of a 52km circuit, a crash which brought down Jones’ Avanti Racing teammates, Tour de Perth winner Joe Cooper and Ben Dyball. Cooper recovered to re-join the race, with a group of four breaking away at the 58km mark including Josh Taylor (CharterMason), George Tansley (SASI), Jayden Copp (Bianchi DCM Arbitrage) and Rhys Gillett (AWS).

The group's lead quickly swelled to three minutes before Drapac began the chase. Gillett was the last man standing, establishing a lead of over one minute before sitting up to be absorbed by the 20-rider strong chase group after 120km.

Women's stage 2

2014 time trial national champion Felicity Wardlaw (Bicycle Superstore) let her rivals know that she is form by soloing away to the stage win and into the overall lead. Wardlaw began the day one minute down on overnight leader Ruth Corset (Holden Women’s Cycling) but broke free with 20km left and then held off her chasers to record victory.

"I think this time I really backed myself," said Wardlaw of her maiden NRS stage victory. "When I kept getting the time gaps I'm going 'this is a 20km time trial' and that’s what I treated it like today."

Wardlaw now leads the Tour by 25 seconds to 2012 series champion Corset and a further 57 seconds ahead of Lizzie Williams (Specialized Securitor) with two stages remaining.

"I know I was strong enough and I know as a team we were probably one of the strongest but I didn't know that I could probably pull a minute back, especially from Ruth.

"We played our cards really well."

Wardlaw’s teammate Heath won the four-women sprint for second place while Corset crossed the line in third place. "I think one of the VIS girls went and I went with her and then put a bit of gap in," said Wardlaw.

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