CCC Polish Team’s Paddy Bevin took the victory on
the second stage of the Santos Tour Down Under.
Elia Viviani of Deceuninck Quick Step, who sprinted
to the win in opening stage was in the ochre jersey for a shortened 122.1km stage
from Norwood into the Adelaide Hills and through the Barossa towns to Angaston.
The heat was the reason that the stage had been
shortened and it was a very warm day again as Artyom Zakharov of Astana took
off, followed by KOM leader Jason Lea of UniSA and then Movistar’s Jaime Castrillo.
The trio were allowed to quickly get 3.10 ahead with
Lea taking the points on the day’s climb at Checker Hill.
With 85 kilometres left, the gap stood at 2.13 before
the first intermediate sprint took place in Birdwood which saw Zakharov taking
the time bonuses ahead of Castrillo and Lea.
The gap went out to over three minutes as Zakharov
took the second sprint beating Lea and Castrillo to the line.
Just before the feedzone, Jason Lea having done his
job for the day dropped out of the break which ended with 55kms to go.
Matthiew Ladagnous of FDJ was next to break away,
taking a lead which maxed out at 2.05 before the pack started to bring him back
towards the fold.
Ladagnous managed to stay away until there was three
kilometres left as temperatures hit forty degrees and under the flam rouge they
went.
There was a crash in the middle of the peloton but CCC
Polish Team’s Paddy Bevin avoided it and out-sprinted Caleb Ewan and Peter
Sagan to take the win in 3.14.13 and the overall lead of the race, five seconds
ahead of Elia Viviani and nine seconds ahead of Caleb Ewan.
Bevin said: “It’s my first WorldTour win. It’s huge. Leading the race changes
the tactics a bit, you absorb a bit more pressure, but I feel like we are in a
great position to box on in the next four stages."
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