Tour Down Under 2015: Route stage 2 - Unley – Stirling

Wednesday, January 21 – In 150.5 hilly kilometres stage 2 leads through the Adelaide Hills, form Unley to Stirling. Diego Ulissi treasures sweet memories to Stirling, since last edition he won a stage in the ‘wettest place of South Australia’.

Tour Down Under 2015 stage 2: Unley – Stirling

In the first hour of racing riders go up the short climb of Basket Range – 1.9 kilometres at 8%. Upon cresting it’s 120 kilometres to the finish.

Via multiple loops they head for their goal, Stirling. The first loop is around Hahndorf, a 19.1 kilometres circuit to be taken twice. When looking through your eyelashes you might mistake the place for a village in Bavaria. Hahndorf was settled by Germans in 1839 and they haven’t forgot about their roots. The town’s architecture is full of fachwerk houses and if you are looking for a Schnitzel or a Bratwurst, just step inside one of the restaurants and your wish comes true.

Next comes Mylor, a hamlet in the Adelaide Hills. From there the bunch rides to arrival town Stirling and in doing so they pass two small climbs. The sector between Mylor and Aldgate goes up by a 4% grade in 4 kilometres and close to the finish a 2 kilometres climb at 3.5% awaits the riders. The local circuit around Stirling is 21.4 kilometres in length and since Mylor-Stirling is three times in the road-book those climbs are three times crested.

Stage 2 in last edition went to Stirling also. It was Diego Ulissi ending up as victor, a feat he repeated on two occasions in the Giro later that year.

The finish is expected around 2.55 pm (ACST).