Tour Down Under 2016: Jay McCarthy wins uphill finish after crash marked finale in stage 2

At 132 kilometres, stage 2 to Stirling closes with an uphill finish. The finale is marked by a crash, eliminating the chances of Simon Gerrans. Jay McCarthy and Diego Ulissi escape and battle it out on the line, with the Australian taking both the stage win and the leaders jersey. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 2nd stage Tour Down Under

1. Jay McCarthy (aus)
2. Diego Ulissi (ita) s.t.
3. Rohan Dennis (aus) s.t.
4. Danily Wyss (swi) s.t.
5. Petr Vakoc (cze) s.t.
6. Patrick Bevin (nzl) s.t.
7. Juan José Lobato (spa) s.t.
8. Sergio Henao (col) s.t.
9. Anthony Roux (fra) s.t.
10. Enrico Battaglin (ita) s.t.

GC after stage 2
1. Jay McCarthy (aus)
2. Diego Ulissi ((ita) + 0.04
3. Simon Gerrans (aus) + 0.05
4. Rohan Dennis (aus) + 0.09
5. Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (rsa)
6. Patrick Bevin (nzl) + 0.10
7. Enrico Battaglin (ita) s.t.
8. Juan José Lobato (spa) s.t.
9. Tobias Ludvigsson (swe) s.t.
10. Anthony Roux (fra) s.t.

Race report
Thomas De Gendt, Manuele Boaro, Yoann Offredo and Patrick Lane are off after 2 kilometres and race to a 0’30” seconds lead. Once at the circuit neaar Stirling only De Gendt and Offredo are left upfront. At the back of the pack sprinters are struggling due to the heat.

The esapees get caught at the circuit around Stirling and Simon Gerrans takes a time bonus of 3 seconds at the intermediate sprint, indicating his ambitions this Santos Tour. The second intermediate sprint is for Adam Hanssen as he soloes on for tenths of kilometres. This time Gerrans is second, taking two seconds.

Hanssen is caught wit 20 km’s left and al eyes are on Simon Gerrans. Will he be able to finish all work done, both by himself and his team?

No. He crashes with 500 metres left. Because GC-leader Caleb Ewan was dropped earlier, Orica is left with empty hands.

McCarthy, Ulissi and Dennis escape the chaos, with the first two sprinting for the win. It is the Australian outperforming the Italian by millimetres.