Tour Down Under: Ewan wins stage 2 in Stirling

Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott) got redemption for his stage 1 loss at the Tour Down Under, taking out the uphill stage 2 sprint Wednesday in Stirling ahead of teammate Daryl Impey and seizing the overall race lead as well.

Ewan was calm and comfortable as the peloton circled the loop around Stirling the last of three times, then he waited for Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) to jump in the sprint before launching from is own lead-out and overtaking the world champion at the line. Impey also slipped past Sagan for second, with Sagan's teammate Jay McCarthy finishing third. Sagan missed the podium in fourth.

Ewan now leads the overall by 10 seconds over Impey and 12 seconds over Sagan and McCarthy.

"I heard on the radio that Greipel had been dropped on the last climb, so I’m happy to be back in ochre," Ewan said. "It’s just good to get that confidence back after the last few races."

Ewan lost to Sagan in the People's Choice Classic and fell to Greipel on stage 1, but he looked strong and confident during the stage 2 run to Stirling and then on the three 21km finishing circuits.

"I hid pretty well in the field," he said. "I've done this circuit before so I know where I can relax and when I need to be at the front. The boys did the same thing. We were relaxed when we could and went hard when we needed to."

The stage win and overall lead are huge prizes for Ewan, who wasn't sure that he'd be in position to contest the sprint after the climb to the finish.

"It was something we were all unsure about, whether I'd make it over the top," he admitted. "The boys put me in a perfect position again, and this team backed me 100 per cent even though some results haven't went perfect for us. So for them to back me on a stage that doesn't even suit me, it means a lot." 

The 148.6km stage from Unley to Stirling was contested under stifling conditions with temperatures above 30 degrees. That didn't deter the escape artists, however, and as soon as the lengthy 14km neutral roll out was over a group of four slipped away.

In the group were three riders who escaped on the previous stage: Will Clarke (EF Education First-Drapac), Nicholas Dlamini (Dimension Data) and Scott Bowden (UniSA-Australia). They were joined on this outing by Movistar neo-pro Jaimie Castrillo.

The peloton let the leaders build their gap out to more than six minutes as they rode toward Stirling. Dlamini, wearing the mountains jersey he won the day before, took maximum points on the first and only KOM just 12.8km into the day. With his lead in the mountains competition extended, the South African rider sat up and slipped back into the peloton.

Clarke, Bowden and Castillo continued on, with Clarke picking up maximum bonus seconds on both intermediate sprints at 45.9km and 77.3km. Like Dlamini, Clarke collected his bonuses and then sat up, choosing to slip back into the peloton with the virtual race lead. Bowden decided to join his fellow Australian and sat up as well.

Castrillo was a bit hungrier, however, and soldiered on alone. The 21-year-old held on until just under 15km remaining before the peloton swept him up. From there it was a constant battle for position as teams swapped out setting the pace that eventually saw some of the sprinters - and especially Greipel - jettisoned from the bunch.

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