Tour Down Under 2019 – Stage 2 [LAST 10 KM]

January 16, 2019

Tour Down Under 2019 – Stage 2 – North Adelaide – Port Adelaide : 129 km

The 2019 Tour Down Under will once again kick off the WorldTour season in Australia. The racing will begin with the People’s Choice Classic on January 13 and the peloton will move straight into the stage race held from January 15 to 20 in and around Adelaide. The climb of Willunga Hill will feature as the climax to the 2019 Tour Down Under, as the Australian UCI WorldTour event eschews its final ‘Champs-Elysées-like’ processional stage in favour of a ‘queen stage’ that should keep things exciting right to the very end. In 2019 last year’s winner Darly Impey (Mitchelton Scott) returns to defend his crown. He will be joined by Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe), Richie Porte (Trek Segafredo) and Rohan Dennis (Bahrain Merida). The race will also represent Caleb Ewan’s first outing as a Lotto Soudal rider after his move from Mitchelton Scott.

Patrick Bevin (CCC Team) laid down his biggest marker yet in the battle for the overall crown at the Tour Down Under by winning stage 2 in a reduced bunch sprint. The new race leader powered clear to win ahead of Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) and Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe).

A crash in the final few hundred metres took down several riders and held up the majority of the peloton. Bevin responded to a late attack from Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) and powered to the line inside the final 150m. There was a late charge from Caleb Ewan but the pint-sized sprinter was unable to even draw level with Bevin in the closing metres. Sagan, was best of the rest, while EIia Viviani was caught too far back to contest the win.

“I think that on a finish like that I can play my cards pretty well, obviously, having come here and had the form and taking time bonuses yesterday,” Bevin said at the line. “I don’t think that saying I could win stage 2 was on the cards, but it’s just that I could pick a good line on that hard, draggy finish. Sanchez was off the front and that gave me the perfect springboard. I put my head down and if you finish first, you finish first. if you get mowed down, you get mowed down, but obviously the legs were good.”

Bevin took five seconds on stage 1 after going into the day’s break, but his sprint today was reminiscent of a rider like Simon Gerrans in his pomp, as the New Zealand rider took on the pure sprinters and beat them on the gentle incline into Angaston. The win means that Bevin takes a five-second lead into stage 3 over Viviani, with Ewan a futher four seconds in arrears.

The likes of Richie Porte, Michael Woods and defending champion Daryl Impey must now attack in order to wrestle control away from Bevin, but on the basis of today’s result that will be no easy challenge.

The crash in the final kilometre certainly affected the result, with a rider from AG2R La Mondiale one of the first to come down after a touch of wheels. Until that point it looked as though the stage would finish in a typical bunch sprint, but the crash caused panic with riders either hitting the deck or forced to brake. With the fall inside the final three kilometres, none of the riders held up lost time other than the bonus seconds awarded on the line for the top three.

“I wasn’t affected by the crash at all,” Bevin said. “I was trying to move up. I was slightly pinched. I had my teammate Fran Ventoso who delivered me to around tenth wheel with around one-kilometre to go and I was picking and choosing my way through the bunch. The guys were great in the final. This is a great way to start the year with CCC Team.”

Earlier in the day, Artyom Zakharov (Astana), Jason Lea (UniSA-Australia) and Jaime Castrillo (Movistar) formed the main break. The trio – with Lea on the attack for the second time in two days – built up a lead of more than three minutes as they battled it out for the intermediates.

With 50 kilometres to go, however, they were back in the bunch, leading to Manuele Boaro (Astana) and Matthieu Ladagnous (Groupama-FDJ) going clear. The Astana man was ordered back, leaving the lone Frenchman at the front of the race. He bravely battled through the heat to build up a two-minute lead, but with the sprinters’ teams ready and waiting there was little chance in a lone rider being allowed too much room.

With 30km to go, Ladagnous’s advantage was down to under 30 seconds, and with two kilometres remaining he was finally brought back. Lotto Soudal, Bora, Bahrain and Sunweb organised their leadout trains on the front of the bunch as the pace continued to rise, and it looked as though Ewan was among the best placed riders after yesterday’s mistakes, and even after the crash the smart money would have been on the Lotto rider.

But Bevin has been on the front foot since the race began, and once more he showed his aggressive nature. When Luis Leon Sanchez – a former overall winner of this race – accelerated clear after the crash, it was the CCC rider who responded first. He used the Astana man as a marker and simply accelerated away from the remnants of the bunch. Ewan was able to hold Bevin for just the briefest of moments before running out of gas as the line approached.

Results :
1 Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team 3:14:31
2 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal
3 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
4 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
5 Jasper Phlipsen (Bel) UAE Team Emirates
6 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain-Merida
7 Elia Viviani (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
8 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team
9 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
10 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Team Sky
11 Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott
12 Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First Pro Cycling
13 Jens Debesschere (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
14 Daniel Hoelgaard (Nor) Groupama-FDJ
15 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team
16 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Groupama-FDJ
17 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma
18 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
19 Chris Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
20 Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
21 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb
22 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
23 Max Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb
24 Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ
25 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky
26 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team
27 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Team
28 Alex Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
29 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin
30 Michael Hepburn (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
31 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) Dimension Data
32 Francisco Ventoso (Spa) CCC Team
33 Mitchell Docker (Aus) EF Education First Pro Cycling
34 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky
35 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
36 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Sky
37 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
38 Tom Leezer (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
39 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
40 Ivo Oliveira (Por) UAE Team Emirates
41 Eduard Prades (Spa) Movistar Team
42 Michael Valgren (Den) Dimension Data
43 Victor De La Parte (Spa) CCC Team
44 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data
45 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
46 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
47 Héctor Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team
48 Nick White (Aus) UniSA-Australia
49 Herman Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain-Merida
50 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
51 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb
52 Rubén Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
53 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal
54 Steve Morabito (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
55 Nico Denz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
56 Ayden Toovey (Aus) UniSA-Australia
57 Jakub Mareczko (Ita) CCC Team
58 Max Kanter (Ger) Team Sunweb
59 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Astana Pro Team
60 Ryan Mullen (Ire) Trek-Segafredo
61 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
62 Clement Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
63 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
64 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
65 Koen de Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
66 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal
67 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Team Sky
68 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
69 Joey Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team
70 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky
71 Dylan Sunderland (Aus) UniSA-Australia
72 Jaime Castrillo (Spa) Movistar Team
73 Dimitrii Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
74 Danil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
75 Rafael Valls (Spa) Movistar Team
76 Yevgeniy Gidich (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
77 William Clarke (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
78 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo
79 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb
80 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
81 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) EF Education First Pro Cycling
82 Nic Dlamini (RSA) Dimension Data
83 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) Trek-Segafredo
84 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
85 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
86 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal
87 Michael Sajnok (Pol) CCC Team
88 Jason Lea (Aus) UniSA-Australia
89 Leo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
90 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
91 Remi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
92 Chris Harper (Aus) UniSA-Australia
93 Michael Potter (Aus) UniSA-Australia
94 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
95 Yukiya Arashiro (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
96 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Bahrain-Merida
97 Lluís Mas (Spa) Movistar Team
98 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Deceuninck – QuickStep
99 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
100 Michael Morkov (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
101 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
102 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data
103 Neil Van der Ploeg (Aus) UniSA-Australia
104 Maarten Wynants (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma
105 Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
106 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal
107 Mat Hayman (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
108 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data
109 Rory Sutherland (Aus) UAE Team Emirates
110 Lars Bak (Den) Dimension Data
111 Sven Erik Bystrom (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
112 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
113 Lachlan Morton (Aus) EF Education First Pro Cycling
114 James Whelan (Aus) EF Education First Pro Cycling
115 Mikkel Honoré (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
116 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
117 Roger Kluge (Ger) Lotto Soudal
118 Gediminas Bagdonas (Ltu) AG2R La Mondiale
119 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
120 Gregor Muhlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
121 Luke Durbridge (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
122 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep
123 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky
124 Adam Blythe (GBr) Lotto Soudal
125 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
126 Lukas Postlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
127 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin
128 Nans Peter (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
129 Daniel McClay (GBr) EF Education First Pro Cycling
130 Thomas Scully (NZl) EF Education First Pro Cycling
131 Davide Ballerini (Ita) Astana Pro Team
132 Marco Haller (Aut) Katusha-Alpecin
133 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale

General Classification after Stage 2 :
1 Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team 6:34:03
2 Elia Viviani (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:05
3 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:00:09
4 Max Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb
5 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
6 Jason Lea (Aus) UniSA-Australia 0:00:10
7 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb
8 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:11
9 Jakub Mareczko (Ita) CCC Team
10 Jaime Castrillo (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:12
11 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:15
12 Jasper Phlipsen (Bel) UAE Team Emirates
13 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
14 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Team Sky
15 Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott
16 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
17 Daniel Hoelgaard (Nor) Groupama-FDJ
18 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team
19 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) Dimension Data
20 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team
21 Chris Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
22 Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
23 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma
24 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin
25 Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First Pro Cycling
26 Jens Debesschere (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
27 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
28 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Groupama-FDJ
29 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
30 Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama-FDJ
31 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky
32 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
33 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky
34 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
35 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team
36 Alex Edmondson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
37 Francisco Ventoso (Spa) CCC Team
38 Michael Hepburn (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
39 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Team Sky
40 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
41 Dimitrii Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
42 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Team
43 Eduard Prades (Spa) Movistar Team
44 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data
45 Koen de Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
46 Ivo Oliveira (Por) UAE Team Emirates
47 Rubén Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
48 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
49 Héctor Carretero (Spa) Movistar Team
50 Michael Sajnok (Pol) CCC Team
51 Nic Dlamini (RSA) Dimension Data
52 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
53 Lluís Mas (Spa) Movistar Team
54 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb
55 Victor De La Parte (Spa) CCC Team
56 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
57 Tom Leezer (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
58 Michael Valgren (Den) Dimension Data
59 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
60 Neil Van der Ploeg (Aus) UniSA-Australia
61 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
62 Steve Morabito (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
63 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
64 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
65 Clement Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
66 Chris Harper (Aus) UniSA-Australia
67 Daniel McClay (GBr) EF Education First Pro Cycling
68 Davide Ballerini (Ita) Astana Pro Team
69 Joey Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team
70 Ayden Toovey (Aus) UniSA-Australia
71 Dylan Sunderland (Aus) UniSA-Australia
72 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
73 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
74 Rafael Valls (Spa) Movistar Team
75 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
76 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
77 Herman Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain-Merida
78 Nico Denz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
79 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data
80 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
81 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
82 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky
83 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo
84 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) Trek-Segafredo
85 Michael Morkov (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
86 Marco Haller (Aut) Katusha-Alpecin
87 William Clarke (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
88 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Team Sky
89 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal
90 Yukiya Arashiro (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
91 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Deceuninck – QuickStep
92 Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
93 Nans Peter (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
94 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
95 Danil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
96 Gregor Muhlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
97 Yevgeniy Gidich (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
98 Gediminas Bagdonas (Ltu) AG2R La Mondiale
99 Roger Kluge (Ger) Lotto Soudal
100 Mikkel Honoré (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
101 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Lotto Soudal
102 Lars Bak (Den) Dimension Data
103 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky
104 Remi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
105 Leo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
106 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Katusha-Alpecin
107 Michael Potter (Aus) UniSA-Australia
108 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data
109 James Whelan (Aus) EF Education First Pro Cycling
110 Sven Erik Bystrom (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
111 Luke Durbridge (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
112 Mat Hayman (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
113 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal
114 Rory Sutherland (Aus) UAE Team Emirates
115 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep
116 Manuele Boaro (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:30
117 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:39
118 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:45
119 Adam Blythe (GBr) Lotto Soudal
120 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:47
121 Ryan Mullen (Ire) Trek-Segafredo
122 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal 0:00:55
123 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) EF Education First Pro Cycling
124 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:58
125 Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
126 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe