Amanda Spratt wins stage 2 of the Women's Tour Down Under

Amanda Spratt won stage 2 of the 2019 Santos Women's Tour Down Under on Friday afternoon after breaking away on the day's final climb up Mengler Hill. Her Mitchelton-Scott teammate Lucy Kennedy took second place on the stage, with Krista Doebel-Hickok (Rally UHC Cycling) taking third.

"It is a race I have targeted the whole off season. This was my main goal for January, so it feels great," said Spratt who finished third on the Mengler Hill stage a year ago.

"The team rode incredible today and we really had a good plan and they made my life easy until the bottom of the final climb, and then Lucy [Kennedy] was there and I could attack and get a lot of time for the GC."

After a fast start out of Nuriootpa for the 116.7-kilometre stage to Mengler Hill, Deborah Paine (New Zealand National Team) who claimed silver at the New Zealand Road National Championships was joined by Australian criterium champion Rebecca Wiasak (UniSA-Australia) in the first break of the race so far, which formed just before the 30-kilometre point.

After the bunch was initially hesitant to let the break go with several chasing groups attempting to bridge, the two riders were allowed to ride away and hoovered up the sprint and mountain points along the way.

Having reached a maximum of three-and-a-half minutes, and with the two leaders still holding a three-minute advantage with 30 kilometres go, the peloton really swung into action, led by Spratt's Mitchelton-Scott team.

"We were pretty confident we could bring that back as we knew the time had been coming down as soon as the pressure was put on by the peloton. We were confident that it was such a hard day with the heat as well, so we knew that would really take it out of them."

With the combination of heat and a long day off the front hitting the legs of Paine and Wiasak, the peloton was able to quickly reduce the advantage, with the gap falling rapidly to less than 30 seconds as they hit 10 kilometres remaining.

The fast pace saw the size of the peloton shrink with less than 40 riders remaining as the charge towards Mengler Hill hit full swing. Spratt, having been set up perfectly by her team, was the first to make her move, quickly distancing the reduced group to forge on solo to the win. Kennedy crossed the line second, 39 seconds behind, and Doebel-Hickok grabbed the final podium spot a further six seconds back.

Spratt, who is chasing a third consecutive title, now holds a strong lead in the general classification, and with her closest rival a teammate, Mitchelton-Scott are in a strong position. But with a tough finish in Stirling on Saturday's third stage, Spratt is wary, and knows the situation could still change.

"Yeah – it is a great position to be in, but we know that tomorrow is not an easy day either, so we will have to go home and recover well and battle tomorrow."

Sarah Roy (Mitchelton-Scott) continues to lead the ZipTrack sprint classification, while Nadia Quagliotto (Ale Cipollini) hold a four point lead in the Subaru Queen of the Mountains. A fifth place finish on the stage has seen rising Australian star Jaime Gunning (Specialized Women's Racing) jump in to the white SouthAustralia.com best young rider's jersey.

The race continues on Saturday with a 104.5-kilometre road stage between Nairne and Stirling.

Results

General classification after stage 2