Santos Tour Down Under 2016: Stage 2

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January 1 - January 24, Unley, South Australia, Road - WorldTour

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Hello and welcome to live coverage from stage 2 of the Tour Down Under.

 

Welcome to today's coverage of the Tour Down Under's second stage. 

 

...And the General Classification after stage 1:

# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica–GreenEdge 3:24:13
2 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Team Dimension Data 0:00:04
3 Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
4 Wouter Wippert (Ned) Cannondale 0:00:06
5 Sean Lake (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:00:07
6 Marko Kump (Slo) Lampre–Merida 0:00:10
7 Adam Blythe (GBr) Tinkoff
8 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek–Segafredo
9 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky
10 Steele von Hoff (Aus) UniSA-Australia

Today's 132km stage from Unley to Stirling includes 1 KOM and 2 intermediate sprints.

You can read about Ewan's win yesterday here.

In case you missed our earlier coverage at the Tour de San Luis, Etixx-QuickStep's young sprinter Fernando Gaviria won the sprint finish ahead of Peter Sagan and Elia Viviani. You can read about he stage here.

Today's Tour Down Under stage is nearly ready to begin. Just a matter of minutes now.

Today's weather looks ideal for a bike race. Here's a brief forecast:

Stage 2 will be drier, sunnier and cooler than Stage 1 but similarly windy and similarly sheltered by trees

 

And the race has started. Riders are on the cobbles and a Trek rider hits the deck. He's back up and in the peloton, however. We're underway.

Mark Cavendish has been impressed so far with the two young sprinters in Australia and Argentina, Tweeting this just minutes ago:

Riders have completed the 6km neutral, and we're racing!

In other news today, Cannondale's Rigoberto Uran says he's ready to take on the Giro this year. Read about Uran's Giro hopes here.

While we're waiting for today's breakaway to gain traction, you can vote for your favourite WorldTour jersey of 2016 here.

Four riders are on the attack and have gained a slight advantage.

This initial attack includes Thomas De Gendt, Manuele Boaro, Yoann Offredo and Patrick Lane.

The lead quartet had 30 seconds on the peloton. Will this early move be the one to stick?

Riders are gearing up for today's Subaru KOM at Rangeview Rd. Things will definitely split up on the climb

The four leaders have crossed the KOM. We'll have result shortly. Meanwhile, the road continues to climb.

Boaro takes the maximum KOM points ahead of Lane De Gendt and Offredo.

We're getting word that Matteo Pelucchi of IAM Cycling has abandoned the race.

113km remaining from 132km

There were some surprise picks for the Giro d'Italia wildcard invitations. We analyse them for you here.

The peloton has brought back the leaders. It's all together again. 

105km remaining from 132km

Adam Hansen (Lotto Soudal) has escaped the field and has 1:15 on the peloton 

Solo leader Adam Hansen's advantage has grown to 2:20 as he passes underneath the fish banner for the second time.

Hansen takes the first intermediate sprint, followed by Orica-GreenEdge teammates Simon Gerrans and Caleb Ewan.

80km remaining from 132km

With the time bonus, Gerrans is just two seconds behind Ewan in the overall battle.

72km remaining from 132km

Former ski jumper Primož Roglič is on domestique duty for LottoNL-Jumbo this week at the Tour Down Under. Read Australian editor Zeb Woodpower's profile of Roglič here.

63km remaining from 132km

50 km remaining and Hansen has 2:05 on the Orica-led peloton.

45km remaining from 132km

Hansen is on the 7km climb now, sitting down and looking relatively comfortable.

Orica continues to lead the chase, followed by a pair from UniSA

39km remaining from 132km

36km remaining from 132km

30km remaining from 132km

Hansen is in the tuck position now as he descends off a slight climb.

The peloton is spread across the road now, likely not wanting to catch Hansen too soon.

BMC have taken up the chase now.

A touch of wheels and AG2R's Pozzovivo hits the deck. He's back up and chasing.

25km remaining from 132km

21km remaining from 132km

We're looking at about a half hour of racing left.

Orica-GreenEdge has picked up the chase from BMC.

Hansen is on the descent and pushing the pace.

19km remaining from 132km

Hansen is drinking from his bidon, and the catch is made.

Three trains in the front now, with Orica, Katusha and Tinkoff fighting for position.

American Kiel Reijnen (Trek) punctures and goes off the road but manages to keep it upright.

Poor timing for Trek's 29-year-old Neo pro

4km remaining from 132km

Sky may have hit the front too early, as they've been swarmed by Giant-Alpecin and LottoNL-Jumbo.

Less than 4km to go, and teams are trying to set up their climbers for the finish.

They're averaging 41 km/h up this final climb.

Daryl Impey is pacing Simon Gerrans up the climb for Orica.

2km remaining from 132km

1km remaining from 132km

A Movistar rider on the attack now with 1km to go.

Peter Kennaugh makes a move.

There's a crash near the front and Tinkoff takes control.

It's Ulissi and McCarthy in a close finish.

Jay McCarthy (Tinkoff) gets the win!

Today's top 10 

Corrected Stage results and GC:

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