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 meters 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 meter. 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."ADVERTISEMENT 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 Darly 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. 2019 Tour Down Under race tech Tour Down Under 2019 WorldTour tech gallery Michael Valgren's BMC Teammachine SLR01 Disc — gallery New lace up shoes from Rapha seen at Tour Down Under Unreleased POC helmet at Tour Down Under New lightweight Specialized climbing shoe spotted at the Tour Down Under A close look at SRAMs new 12-speed eTap groupset Ewan's 2019 Ridley Noah Fast - Gallery EF Education First aim to 'disrupt' pro peloton with bright pink kit - Gallery Stage 2 video highlights
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