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Tour Down Under 2019: Stage 2

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Well folks, it's another blistering day at the Tour Down Under, with temperatures forecast for well above 36 C / 96 F again today.

After being forced to take a finishing loop off stage 1 due to concerns about high winds, the Tour Down Under organisers also announced that today's stage has been reduced because of the hot weather.

You can read our story from yesterday about the change HERE

Although yesterday's stage was shortened because of forecasts for high winds, it was Elia Viviani who produced the most energy at the finish, putting on a master class for his rivals to take the victory and the first leader's jersey.

If you missed the finish yesterday, you can read Daniel Benson's description of Viviani's master class HERE

The second stage will see the peloton race from Norwood, an Adelaide suburb about 77km to the northeast.

Conspicuously absent from the stage 1 sprint was Caleb Ewan, who is obviously still working with his new Lotto Soudal team to fine tune their finish. Read Daniel Benson's report on what happened to the young Australian yesterday HERE

And don't forget our podcast from after stage 1, where we hear from Viviani, Ewan, Paddy Bevin and Michael Valgren. Listen to the podcast HERE

Luke Durbridge (Mitchelton-Scott) missed the Down Under Classic criterium, but he was back in the saddle yesterday, finishing 95th. We caught up with him at the start this morning.

Max Walscheid (Team Sunweb) was second yesterday and will wear the blue sprint jersey for today's stage. 

Walscheid's teammate Michael Storer had this to say about yesterday's adventure in the breakaway and earning the white jersey: 

 

 

Elia Viviani's sprint yesterday really was something to see. First he held his position along the barriers as the hole started to close, then he used an unmatchable burst of speed to sail past Walscheid for the win. he earned the first leader's jersey for his effort. Here he is at the start today.

We asked Viviani about yesterday's sprint. Here's what he had to say:

The 9.5km neutral roll out is over and stage 2 at the Tour Down Under has officially started. We're racing folks, and the attacks have already started!

The first two attackers will sound familiar, as they were both in yesterday's early breakaway: Artyom Zakharov (Astana) and Jason Lea (UniSA-Australia), with Jaime Castrillo (Movistar) joining them to add to the fun.

The lead trio now has 35 seconds on the bunch.  Once again, riders out front are Artyom Zakharov (Astana), Jason Lea (UniSA-Australia) and Jaime Castrillo (Movistar)

The first prize up for grabs today comes at 26.3km with the Checker Hill KOM. The 800 metre climb averages 13.3 percent gradient, so it's no Sunday ride through the park.

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Here's view from the top of Checker Hill, where crowds are already starting to gather.

114km remaining from 122km

We covered Zakharov and Lea yesterday, but what do we know about Castrillo? The 22-year-old Spaniard joined Movistar last year and put in 56 race days, not bad for a neo pro. His calendar included the Tour Down Under, where he finished 107th in his first race for the team. He was sixth in the U23 road race at UCI Road World Championships in Austria.

If you want a closer look at the rig Viviani used to win stage 1, Josh Evans has got all of the details for you HERE

If you're a fan of blogs, Chad Haga's is always entertaining. In this instalment, the Team Sunweb pro writes about his off-season in the US. Read Haga's blog HERE

We're less than 10km away from the first KOM at Checker Hill. The gap is holding around 3:15

That was fast. The race says we're now 3km from the KOM, and the leaders have 2:45 

The Checker Hill climb is brutally steep. Whoever wins here is going to earn it.

Lea takes the KOM ahead of Zakharov and Castrillo

The leaders are on an equally steep descent now, reaching speeds of 90kmh

The next gem to be plucked in this stage is the first intermediate sprint in Birdwood at 39.2km

85km remaining from 122km

Zakharov takes maximum points at the intermediate sprint ahead of Castrillo and Lea. There are also time bonuses on offer of three, two and one second

The second and final intermediate sprint of the day comes in Springton with 66.2km remaining.

Journalsist aren't the only people working hard at the start line. Check out this pic we got of Caleb Ewan interviewing former teammate Alex Edmondson

Daniel Benson spoke with Team Sky's Wout Poels, who told us he's at the Tour Down Under to make a run at the GC. Richie Porte has won on Willunga Hill the past five times the race has gone there, and Poels told us he thought it would be "nice" if someone else won there. The peloton will tackle the climb twice in the final 25km kilometres of the last stage, finishing atop the climb.

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Zakharov has claimed the second intermediate sprint and another three-second bonus. That's a total of six seconds for him. Lea was second in Springton, with Castrillo third.

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The peloton is going through the feed zone with 56.7km left to race. The riders will need to take on a lot of bottles as the temperature in Eden Valley has hit 38 C / 101 F

It's a beautiful landscape with a lot of brown and yellow grass mixed in with an occasional vineyard in the Barossa Valley. The peloton is currently on a tree-lined road getting a brief respite of shade.

The finish line in Angaston awaits. According to Wikiperdia, Angaston, which at 347 metres of elevation is one of the highest points in the Barossa Valley and has an average rainfall of 561 mm, was originally known as German Pass, but was later renamed after the politician, banker and possible former slaveholder George Fife Angas, who settled in the area in the 1850s.

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Hold on. While we were making a sandwich the break has been caught. Now several more riders are heading up the road.

Manuele Boaro (Astana) and Matthieu Ladagnous (Groupama-FDJ) have gone up the road, but Boaro has been called off and is going back to the bunch.

Ladagnous appears to be throwing in the towel now that he's lost his companion. Even so, at the pace the peloton is riding it might take a while to catch him.

EF Education First's Dan McLay will be one of the sprinters looking for a result today in Angaston. He said he doesn't believe any one sprinter will dominate racing this year. You can read more of what McLay had to say HERE

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37km remaining from 122km

The cagey Frenchman out front is holding his gap at two minutes. The 34-year-old has spent his entire professional career, which started in 2006, with the FDJ teams. Now in his 16th season, he's scored 11 wins, the last of which came in 2013 during stage 3 of the Tour du Limousin.

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These long straight roads aren't doing Ladagnous any favours, but he's still got 1:16 on the bunch.

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Team Sky have come to the front now to help with the chase. Their sprinter Owain Doull would like to have a crack at the finish. 

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The teams are confident in bringing him back, as they are going just fast enough to tick a few seconds off but not use up any more energy than necessary

Micthelton-Scott, Katusha, Team Sky and UAE are spread across the road. Could UAE"s Belgian youngster Japser Philpsen pull off a major upset today? Bahrain-Merida is also there for Phil Bauhaus.

2km remaining from 122km

2km remaining from 122km

Control is changing rapidly. They all want control, but Bora's got it for now.

1km remaining from 122km

Crash in the middle of the field!!

The sprinters are gone.

Patrick Bevin takes it!

Great sprint from the CCC Team Kiwi. He was third at the start of the day, five seconds behind Viviani

Provisional result

1 Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team
2 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal
3 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
4 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma

Today's Top 10:


1 Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team 03:14:31
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 Sanches (Esp) Astana
9 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
10 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Team Sky

Bevin is the new race leader, 5 seconds ahead of Elia Viviani and nine seconds ahead of Caleb Ewan

General Classification after stage 2

We've got video highlights from stage 2, including the messy finale with the crash in the finishing straight. Watch Patrick Bevin (CCC Team) school the pure sprinters HERE

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