Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) produced a superb finish to deny Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) a second successive stage win at the Tour Down Under, although the Australian strengthened his grip on the leader's ochre jersey.
Despite a number of attacks on the hilly final circuit, it was a sizeable group that contested the finish in Stirling, and after keeping his powder dry as the early attacks went off the front, it was Ulissi who came off the wheel of Gerrans to take Lampre's first ever win in the Tour Down Under.
'It was good to win here. I was very motivated because this was my kind of finish. These are great races to help me prepare for Milan San Remo. It's my first time in Australia and the crowd was phenomenal', said Ulissi after the race.
Despite missing out on the stage win, Gerrans was in good spirits at the finish, picking up bonus seconds to extend his lead in the overall classification from five to seven seconds.
'It was great to get a couple more seconds, but hats off to Ulissi, he timed that sprint perfectly and got the jump with about 100m to go and we couldn't quite catch him.'
Earlier in the day it was Will Clarke (Drapac) who made the break for the second day in a row, today being joined by Campbell Flakemore (UniSA) and Boy van Poppel (Trek Factory Racing), with the Drapac rider holding off Flakemore to take the two KOM prizes for the day to draw level with Adam Hansen in the mountains classification.
With 31km remaining Flakemore was dropped from the break and was quickly caught by the bunch, with Clarke and van Poppel lasting a further 10km.
But the attacks started on the final circuit, with Philip Deignan (Sky) and Nathan Haas (Garmin-Sharp) briefly taking a group of seven off the front before Tinkoff-Saxo moved to the front in an attempt to deter any further moves.
With 2km remaining the attacks began again, with Ian Stannard (Sky) momentarily gaining a small gap before Richie Porte (Sky), Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEdge), and Nathan Haas attempted attacks in the final kilometre.
But it all came back together for the uphill final few hundred metres as Daryl Impey led out Simon Gerrans, before Ulissi surprised his rivals with an early spring, swinging onto the right hand side of the road to take the win by a couple of bike lengths and spoil the party for the Australians.
Stage 2 Result: Prospect-Stirling, 150km
1. Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre-Merida 3:52:14
2. Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-Greenedge
3. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC
4. Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Astana
5. Robert Gesink (Ned) Belkin
6. Richie Porte (Aus) Team Sky
7. Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC
8. Fabio Feline (Ita) Trek Factory Racing
9. Javier Moreno (Esp) Movistar
10. Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica-Greenedge
General Classification after Stage 2
1. Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica Greenedge 7:13:21
2. Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:00:07
3. Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto-Belisol 0:00:11
4. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC 0:00:13
5. Steele von Hoff (Aus) Garmin-Sharp
6. Simon Geschke (Ger) Giant-Shimano 0:00:16
7. Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Astana 0:00:17
8. Robert Gesink (Ned) Belkin
9. Maxime Bouet (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale
10. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky
0 Comments