Michael Woods wins stage 2 of Jayco Herald Sun Tour

Canada's Michael Woods made it two wins out of two for his EF Education First team at the 2019 Jayco Herald Sun Tour in Churchill, Victoria, on Thursday, out-sprinting Trek-Segafredo's Richie Porte after the two riders escaped on stage 2's final, gravelled climb.

Woods attacked just before the start of the 1.1km dirt-road section on the Jeeralang climb, with Porte scrambling to stay on his wheel. The Canadian was first over the top of the climb with a small gap to Porte, with 12 kilometres left to race, but the Australian managed to get back on the descent, and the two of them worked together to distance their rivals, with Woods eventually out-kicking Porte at the finish.

"I actually reconned this course beforehand, including the descent, so I took the descent pretty fast," said Woods, "although it was still a pedalling descent, and I didn't want to gas myself, in case somebody else got back on, like Richie did. Then we just talked to each other, and said, 'Let's just drill it until the last kilometre.'"

Porte confirmed the conversation, but that final kilometre was clearly a free-for-all.

"We said not to play around, and then he sits on for the last kilometre," said Porte. "But that's racing, I suppose, and I tip my hat to Michael. He's a great athlete, and he's a great guy, so I think he deserved to win today."

Team Sky's Kenny Elissonde and Dylan van Baarle were the best of the rest on a day when the race was blown apart by both the climbs and strong winds, and Woods now leads the race overall by four seconds from Porte, with Elissonde in third, another 23 seconds back.

How it unfolded

Six riders escaped early on Thursday's second stage from Wonthaggi to Churchill, building up a lead of over three minutes on the relatively flat first half of the 127km stage.

Three of those riders – Shane Archbold (EvoPro), Oliver's Real Food Racing's Karl Michelin-Beard and Thomas Coates (Futuro-Maxxis) – were left behind on the day's first 'king of the mountains' climb at Mirboo after 50 kilometres, and Nick White (Team Bridgelane), Liam White (Drapac Cannondale Holistic) and EvoPro Racing's Cyrus Monk pushed on alone towards the day's second intermediate sprint with just under 40km to go.

Shortly afterwards, and with the three riders still out at the front, a crash in the bunch took down a number of riders, with Nick Miller, Carter Bettles and Rhys Robotham – all of Futuro-Maxxis Pro Cycling – and the KordaMentha Australian Team's Rudy Porter unable to finish the stage.

Up at the front of the bunch – where Elissonde told reporters he wasn't even aware of there having been a crash – Team Sky, and Luke Rowe, in particular, turned the screw to try to take the race apart in what were increasingly strong winds, which they succeeded in doing ahead of the day's final climb at Jeeralang.

On the climb, an attack from Sky's Pavel Sivakov and Chris Harper (Team Bridgestone) – with the Australian doing an excellent ride to be among what was otherwise only WorldTour teams up at the front of the race – got a gap, and the pair were joined by Sivakov's teammate Elissonde.

In the chasing group, Mitchelton-Scott were represented by three riders – Lucas Hamilton, Damien Howson and Nick Schultz – while race favourites Porte and Woods were there, and Sky also had Dutchman Dylan van Baarle.

Harper struggled to stay with Elissonde and Sivakov, and the two Sky riders pushed on, approaching the climb's gravel section. But it was Woods who attacked once the lead pair had been pulled back, and only Porte could follow him. The Canadian led onto the gravel, with Porte yo-yoing on and off Woods' wheel.

Woods was first over the climb, with a small gap, but when Porte made contact again, the two riders agreed to ride together on the descent to try to put some time into the Sky and Mitchelton-Scott riders chasing behind, and when they crossed the finish line – Woods ahead of Porte – they soon discovered that they'd put 17 seconds into third-placed Elissonde and 19 seconds into Van Baarle and Hamilton.

Friday's 161.6km third stage between Sale and Warragul is hilly again, but it's on Saturday's stage 4 on which the race should be decided – probably between Woods and Porte, with Elissonde also likely to be in the mix – when the race's penultimate stage finishes with four climbs of Arthurs Seat.

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