Search our site:

2016 Santos Tour Down Under (World Tour), Australia

Stage 2: Unley - Sterling

Stage 2, Wednesday, January 20: Unley - Stirling, 132 km

Back to 2016 Tour Down Under

Results | Stage 2 video | Stage 2 photos | Stage 2 map and profile

Jay McCarthy wins Down Under Stage 2

Jay McCarthy wins Tour Down Under Stage 2

The Race: Here's the excellent summary from the race organizer:

Australian Jay McCarthy has taken over the Santos Ochre Leader’s Jersey of the Santos Tour Down Under after winning the Staging Connections Stage 2 at Stirling.

The 132 kilometre stage travelled from the cosmopolitan Adelaide suburb of Unley through the picturesque Adelaide Hills. The riders covered the 21 kilometre Stirling loop five times providing superb viewing for the 110 thousand fans who flocked to the local area.

The final battle for the line was a hectic affair marred by a crash just inside the final kilometre when eight riders hit the deck and most of the peloton was caught up behind them but under the rules they were all awarded the same time as the winner because the crash happened in the final three kilometres.

While some of the pre-race favourites missed the chance to claim a time bonus on the line, McCarthy’s Tinkoff team mates steered a course for him through the tangle so he could deliver the victory and grab the ten second stage winner’s bonus.

He edged out Diego Ulissi (Lapre Merida), who won this stage in 2014, by half a wheel with defending Santos Tour Down Under champion, Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing) also avoiding the crash to ride home in third place.

“I’ve done this stage for a few years now so we certainly had a plan,” said McCarthy who was fifth in the road race at the recent Australian Championships. “This year coming into this race I was in very good shape and before the start today I was hoping to be given a chance.

“The team supported me fully and I’m also given a chance to go for GC (overall) this week as well. It’s great to come out and get the victory today but the week is not finished (and) I hope to recover for Corkscrew (climb) tomorrow. There’s a lot of work ahead of us but I hope to keep getting more results,” said McCarthy.

Dennis admits the crash probably helped his result today. “The plan was to stay out of trouble and be up there in the front, and if there was an opportunity for the sprint, go for it,” said Dennis. “I was one of the first to get around the crash, but if that crash didn’t happen, I don’t think I would have been third.

“I hope the crash doesn’t hinder (Simon) Gerrans, because no one wants to win like that,” said Dennis who is keen to claim back-to-back crowns.

Gerrans’ day was panning out perfectly until the crash. His Orica GreenEdge team mates had set him up to grab time bonuses in both iiNet intermediate sprints and they were ready to guide him to the line. “It’s disappointing because we were right where we needed to be to have a good finish,” said Gerrans, a three time winner of the event. “It’s a shame to lose time bonuses, because a second counts for a lot in this race.

“Two of the times that I won they’ve come down to placings,” said Gerrans who despite bad luck was looking on the bright side. “All was not lost, because I don’t think I stuck my nose out into the wind more than a few minutes all day. The team did a great job protecting me.”

Tinkoff’s Sport Director Sean Yates says he expected a strong performance this week from McCarthy.

“It’s a great win for Jay,” said Yates. “We knew he was in good shape…and we worked for him today. “It’s his first WorldTour win, so it’s a big day for him,” said Yates. “We now have the lead, and we are not just going to say, OK, we’ve won a stage, we’re happy. We know that BMC and Orica are the teams here racing for the victory, and we can try to use that to our advantage.

“It’s always good to get that first win of the season under the belt, so to have it come on the second day of racing, everyone’s happy.”

The riders set off in hot, humid conditions and the pace was on from the start because the only categorised climb of the day in the Subaru King of the Mountain competition was only 14 kilometres down the road. Over the top at Carey Gully Italian Manuele Boaro (Tinkoff) claimed the 10 points ahead of Pat Lane (UniSA-Australia) with Lotto Soudal’s Thomas De Gendt and FDJ’s Yoann Offredo picking up the remaining points.

That win gave Boaro the lead in the Subaru King of the Mountain competition, because overnight leader Sean Lake, with whom he is tied on points, finished more than three minutes behind Boaro on today’s stage.

“Since I'm on good form and we're here to ride at the front, I tried the KOM (King of the Mountain) because it was only ten kilometres after the start,” said Boaro. “The whole day has gone well. We knew from the Australian national championships that Jay (McCarthy) was in a great shape. He's our leader and we'll back him with the aim of winning the Tour Down Under.”

Heathfield was the location of the two iiNet intermediate sprints of the day and the first, at the 30 kilometre mark, went to Tour contender Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) with team mate and overnight leader Caleb Ewan on his wheel ahead of Reinhardt Janse Van Rensburg (Dimension Data) in third place.

Soon after the iiNet sprint Lotto-Soudal’s Adam Hansen launched an attack that no-one countered and the Australian was soon more than two minutes clear. A puncture as Hansen headed into Stirling for the second time disrupted his rhythm but he stayed clear to claim the second iiNet sprint at the 49 kilometre mark.

Back in the bunch Orica-GreenEdge upped the speed to ensure Gerrans collected the second place time bonus at Heathfield. That, along with his bonus from winning the first iiNet sprint shaved five seconds off his overall race time. Ewan again crossed behind him to bring his bonus total for the day to three seconds.

But for him the points were more important and whilst the 21 year old would end the day more than six minutes down and ranked 114th overall, he retained his lead in the iiNet Sprint classification.

The burst of speed from Orica-GreenEdge in the lead up to the sprint brought the gap to Hansen down under a minute but when the peloton settled, the gap extended again, and at the third loop through Stirling, Hansen was back out to a 1min50sec lead.

Over the next 20 kilometres Hansen stayed clear as, initially, Orica GreenEdge and later BMC controlled the pace on the front of the peloton to keep Hansen within catching distance.

But as the finish approached the chase began in earnest and by the bell lap Hansen was less than 40 seconds ahead. He was caught 19 kilometres from home. “We knew we wanted to race aggressively today and after that first group was caught, I decided to go,” said Hansen. “It's always complicated when you are one alone against the pack, but it was a good try.”

Drapac’s Brenton Jones was off the pace early in the day but struggled on nonetheless only to be cut from the race for finishing outside the allowed time limit.

Salvatore Pucci (Team SKY) and Mattero Penuchi (IAM Cycling) both withdrew form then race during today’s stage.

The beachside suburb of Glenelg is in the spotlight for the start of tomorrow’s Thomas Foods Stage 3 that will see the 137 riders travel through the Fleurieu Peninsula and the Adelaide Hills. The riders will tackle the infamous Corkscrew Road climb before a fast descent and tight turn to finish in Campbelltown.

Complete Stage 2 Results:

1	Jay McCarthy	Tinkoff	3hr 26min 40sec
2	Diego Ulissi	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
3	Rohan Dennis	BMC	s.t.
4	Danilo Wyss	BMC	s.t.
5	Petr Vakoc	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
6	Patrick Bevin	Cannondale	s.t.
7	Juan José Lobato	Team Movistar	s.t.
8	Sergio Henao	Team Sky	s.t.
9	Anthony Roux	FDJ	s.t.
10	Enrico Battaglin	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
11	Julian Arredondo	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
12	Domenico Pozzovivo	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
13	Tobias Ludvigsson	Giant–Alpecin	s.t.
14	David Tanner	IAM Cycling	s.t.
15	Cameron Meyer	Dimension Data	s.t.
16	Simon Clarke	Cannondale	s.t.
17	Michael Woods	Cannondale	s.t.
18	Floris Gerts	BMC	s.t.
19	Patrick Shaw	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
20	Georg Preidler	Giant–Alpecin	s.t.
21	Jack Bobridge	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
22	Jesús Herrada	Team Movistar	s.t.
23	Rein Taaramäe	Team Katusha	s.t.
24	Moreno Moser	Cannondale	s.t.
25	George Bennett	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
26	Tiago Machado	Team Katusha	s.t.
27	Ruben Fernandez	Team Movistar	s.t.
28	Peter Stetina	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
29	David De La Cruz	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
30	Gert Dockx	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
31	Luis Leon Sanchez	Astana	s.t.
32	Oscar Gatto	Tinkoff	s.t.
33	Primoz Roglic	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
34	Egor Silin	Team Katusha	s.t.
35	Peter Kennaugh	Team Sky	s.t.
36	Ivan Rovny	Tinkoff	s.t.
37	Pieter Serry	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
38	Patrick Lane	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
39	Gavin Mannion	Drapac	s.t.
40	Louis Meintjes	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
41	Jarlinson Pantano	IAM Cycling	s.t.
42	Rafael Valls Ferri	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
43	Steve Morabito	FDJ	s.t.
44	Lars Ytting Bak	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
45	Carlos Verona	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
46	Anthony Giacoppo	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
47	Richie Porte	BMC	s.t.
48	Lucas Hamilton	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
49	Samuel Spokes	Drapac	s.t.
50	Davide Malacarne	Astana	s.t.
51	Laurens De Vreese	Astana	s.t.
52	Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg	Dimension Data	s.t.
53	Alexey Tsatevitch	Team Katusha	s.t.
54	Chris Hamilton	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
55	Cyril Gautier	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
56	Matteo Montaguti	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
57	Jascha Sütterlin	Team Movistar	s.t.
58	Ruben Zepuntke	Cannondale	s.t.
59	Sergey Lagutin	Team Katusha	s.t.
60	Tsgabu Gebremaryam Grmay	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
61	Pim Ligthart	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
62	Lachlan Norris	Drapac	s.t.
63	Manuele Boaro	Tinkoff	s.t.
64	José Joaquin Rojas	Team Movistar	s.t.
65	Jaco Venter	Dimension Data	s.t.
66	Peter Velits	BMC	s.t.
67	Alessandro De Marchi	BMC	s.t.
68	Marcus Burghardt	BMC	s.t.
69	Martin Velits	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
70	Michael Gogl	Tinkoff	s.t.
71	Graeme Brown	Drapac	s.t.
72	Nelson Oliveira	Team Movistar	s.t.
73	Aleksejs Saramotins	IAM Cycling	s.t.
74	Nathan Earle	Drapac	s.t.
75	Carter Jones	Giant–Alpecin	s.t.
76	Rory Sutherland	Team Movistar	s.t.
77	Michael Albasini	Orica–GreenEdge	s.t.
78	Arman Kamyshev	Astana	s.t.
79	Dmitriy Gruzdev	Astana	s.t.
80	Johan Le Bon	FDJ	s.t.
81	Bram Tankink	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
82	Bert-Jan Lindeman	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
83	Steele von Hoff	UniSA-Australia	@ 1min 24sec
84	Songezo Jim	Dimension Data	s.t.
85	Nathan Haas	Dimension Data	s.t.
86	Geraint Thomas	Team Sky	s.t.
87	Yoann Offredo	FDJ	s.t.
88	Laurent Pichon	FDJ	0:01:41
89	Manuele Mori	Lampre–Merida	0:01:51
90	Luka Pibernik	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
91	Simon Gerrans	Orica–GreenEdge	s.t.
92	Mathew Hayman	Orica–GreenEdge	s.t.
93	Daryl Impey	Orica–GreenEdge	s.t.
94	Simon Geschke	Giant–Alpecin	0:02:16
95	Greg Henderson	Lotto Soudal	0:02:26
96	Alberto Bettiol	Cannondale	s.t.
97	Ian Stannard	Team Sky	s.t.
98	Adam Phelan	Drapac	s.t.
99	Luke Rowe	Team Sky	0:03:08
100	Sean Lake	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
101	Boy Van Poppel	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
102	Lieuwe Westra	Astana	s.t.
103	Ryder Hesjedal	Trek–Segafredo	0:04:16
104	Adam Blythe	Tinkoff	s.t.
105	Marcel Aregger	IAM Cycling	s.t.
106	Davide Martinelli	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
107	Maarten Tjallingii	LottoNL–Jumbo	0:04:38
108	Koen De Kort	Giant–Alpecin	s.t.
109	Adam Hansen	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
110	Lars Boom	Astana	s.t.
111	Jesse Sergent	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
112	Murilo Fischer	FDJ	s.t.
113	Michael Valgren Andersen	Tinkoff	s.t.
114	Federico Zurlo	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
115	Bert De Backer	Giant–Alpecin	0:06:01
116	Caleb Ewan	Orica–GreenEdge	0:06:21
117	Ben Swift	Team Sky	0:06:50
118	Tyler Farrar	Dimension Data	s.t.
119	Mark Renshaw	Dimension Data	s.t.
120	Benoit Vaugrenard	FDJ	s.t.
121	Christophe Riblon	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
122	Luke Durbridge	Orica–GreenEdge	0:07:59
123	Thomas De Gendt	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
124	Michael Hepburn	Orica–GreenEdge	s.t.
125	Giacomo Nizzolo	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
126	Martijn Keizer	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
127	Guillaume Van Keirsbulck	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
128	Alexis Gougeard	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
129	Marko Kump	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
130	Maxim Belkov	Team Katusha	s.t.
131	Roger Kluge	IAM Cycling	s.t.
132	Wouter Wippert	Cannondale	s.t.
133	Kiel Reijnen	Trek–Segafredo	0:10:12
134	Leigh Howard	IAM Cycling	s.t.
135	Gediminas Bagdonas	AG2R La Mondiale	0:10:38
136	Cheng Ji	Giant–Alpecin	0:11:27
137	Vladimir Isaychev	Team Katusha	0:15:47

GC after Stage 2:

1	Jay McCarthy	Tinkoff	6hr 50min 43sec
2	Diego Ulissi	Lampre–Merida	@ 4sec
3	Simon Gerrans	Orica–GreenEdge	:05
4	Rohan Dennis	BMC	:06
5	Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg	Dimension Data	:09
6	Patrick Bevin	Cannondale	:10
7	Enrico Battaglin	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
8	Juan José Lobato	Team Movistar	s.t.
9	Anthony Roux	FDJ	s.t.
10	Tobias Ludvigsson	Giant–Alpecin	s.t.
11	Julian Arredondo	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
12	Patrick Shaw	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
13	Cameron Meyer	Dimension Data	s.t.
14	Simon Clarke	Cannondale	s.t.
15	Sergio Henao	Team Sky	s.t.
16	Anthony Giacoppo	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
17	Alexey Tsatevitch	Team Katusha	s.t.
18	José Joaquin Rojas	Team Movistar	s.t.
19	Floris Gerts	BMC	s.t.
20	Luis Leon Sanchez	Astana	s.t.
21	Egor Silin	Team Katusha	s.t.
22	Rafael Valls Ferri	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
23	David Tanner	IAM Cycling	s.t.
24	Ruben Fernandez	Team Movistar	s.t.
25	Oscar Gatto	Tinkoff	s.t.
26	Jarlinson Pantano	IAM Cycling	s.t.
27	Aleksejs Saramotins	IAM Cycling	s.t.
28	Laurens De Vreese	Astana	s.t.
29	Arman Kamyshev	Astana	s.t.
30	Carlos Verona	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
31	Steve Morabito	FDJ	s.t.
32	Davide Malacarne	Astana	s.t.
33	Tiago Machado	Team Katusha	s.t.
34	Peter Kennaugh	Team Sky	s.t.
35	Michael Albasini	Orica–GreenEdge	s.t.
36	Petr Vakoc	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
37	David De La Cruz	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
38	Jascha Sütterlin	Team Movistar	s.t.
39	Domenico Pozzovivo	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
40	Danilo Wyss	BMC	s.t.
41	George Bennett	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
42	Dmitriy Gruzdev	Astana	s.t.
43	Yoann Offredo	FDJ	s.t.
44	Louis Meintjes	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
45	Michael Woods	Cannondale	s.t.
46	Jesús Herrada	Team Movistar	s.t.
47	Georg Preidler	Giant–Alpecin	s.t.
48	Samuel Spokes	Drapac	s.t.
49	Peter Stetina	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
50	Martin Velits	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
51	Matteo Montaguti	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
52	Primoz Roglic	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
53	Manuele Boaro	Tinkoff	s.t.
54	Lars Ytting Bak	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
55	Lucas Hamilton	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
56	Nathan Haas	Dimension Data	s.t.
57	Pim Ligthart	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
58	Richie Porte	BMC	s.t.
59	Ivan Rovny	Tinkoff	s.t.
60	Nelson Oliveira	Team Movistar	s.t.
61	Adam Phelan	Drapac	s.t.
62	Moreno Moser	Cannondale	s.t.
63	Gert Dockx	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
64	Michael Gogl	Tinkoff	s.t.
65	Rein Taaramäe	Team Katusha	s.t.
66	Geraint Thomas	Team Sky	s.t.
67	Lieuwe Westra	Astana	s.t.
68	Jack Bobridge	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
69	Ruben Zepuntke	Cannondale	s.t.
70	Gavin Mannion	Drapac	s.t.
71	Patrick Lane	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
72	Peter Velits	BMC	s.t.
73	Marcus Burghardt	BMC	s.t.
74	Nathan Earle	Drapac	s.t.
75	Cyril Gautier	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
76	Bram Tankink	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
77	Pieter Serry	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
78	Tsgabu Gebremaryam Grmay	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
79	Daryl Impey	Orica–GreenEdge	s.t.
80	Rory Sutherland	Team Movistar	s.t.
81	Chris Hamilton	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
82	Bert-Jan Lindeman	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
83	Lachlan Norris	Drapac	s.t.
84	Sergey Lagutin	Team Katusha	s.t.
85	Carter Jones	Giant–Alpecin	s.t.
86	Songezo Jim	Dimension Data	s.t.
87	Jaco Venter	Dimension Data	s.t.
88	Johan Le Bon	FDJ	s.t.
89	Graeme Brown	Drapac	s.t.
90	Alessandro De Marchi	BMC	:50
91	Mathew Hayman	Orica–GreenEdge	@ 1min 15sec
92	Steele von Hoff	UniSA-Australia	0:01:34
93	Laurent Pichon	FDJ	0:01:51
94	Luka Pibernik	Lampre–Merida	0:02:01
95	Manuele Mori	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
96	Greg Henderson	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
97	Alberto Bettiol	Cannondale	s.t.
98	Simon Geschke	Giant–Alpecin	0:03:14
99	Sean Lake	UniSA-Australia	0:03:15
100	Luke Rowe	Team Sky	0:03:18
101	Boy Van Poppel	Trek–Segafredo	0:03:37
102	Ian Stannard	Team Sky	0:03:41
103	Adam Blythe	Tinkoff	0:04:26
104	Davide Martinelli	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
105	Ryder Hesjedal	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
106	Adam Hansen	Lotto Soudal	0:04:45
107	Koen De Kort	Giant–Alpecin	0:04:48
108	Federico Zurlo	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
109	Murilo Fischer	FDJ	s.t.
110	Michael Valgren Andersen	Tinkoff	s.t.
111	Maarten Tjallingii	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
112	Lars Boom	Astana	s.t.
113	Jesse Sergent	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
114	Caleb Ewan	Orica–GreenEdge	0:06:18
115	Bert De Backer	Giant–Alpecin	0:06:33
116	Mark Renshaw	Dimension Data	0:06:54
117	Ben Swift	Team Sky	0:07:00
118	Christophe Riblon	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
119	Benoit Vaugrenard	FDJ	s.t.
120	Tyler Farrar	Dimension Data	0:08:01
121	Alexis Gougeard	AG2R La Mondiale	0:08:03
122	Wouter Wippert	Cannondale	0:08:05
123	Giacomo Nizzolo	Trek–Segafredo	0:08:09
124	Marko Kump	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
125	Roger Kluge	IAM Cycling	s.t.
126	Guillaume Van Keirsbulck	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
127	Maxim Belkov	Team Katusha	s.t.
128	Thomas De Gendt	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
129	Luke Durbridge	Orica–GreenEdge	0:08:49
130	Marcel Aregger	IAM Cycling	0:09:55
131	Kiel Reijnen	Trek–Segafredo	0:10:22
132	Leigh Howard	IAM Cycling	s.t.
133	Gediminas Bagdonas	AG2R La Mondiale	0:10:48
134	Martijn Keizer	LottoNL–Jumbo	0:13:38
135	Cheng Ji	Giant–Alpecin	0:14:23
136	Vladimir Isaychev	Team Katusha	0:15:57
137	Michael Hepburn	Orica–GreenEdge	0:16:05