It was a mixed day for Team Sky on today's second stage of the Tour Down Under. One of the team's captains Richie Porte showed some good form by finishing 6th in an uphill sprint that didn't suit him but the team's second leader Geraint Thomas was held up in a crash and lost the opportunity to go for bonus seconds.

Team Sky have assumed their usual position near the front of the peloton on the first two stages of the Tour Down Under as they have done nothing to hide that they aim big in the Tour Down Under. With an in-form Richie Porte having finished 3rd in his national championships and Geraint Thomas ending 3rd in last year's race, the team has two genuine winner candidates.

However, the team has been hit by some bad luck until now. On the opening day, Thomas was blocked by a crash in the finale which made him unable to sprint for the win and Porte was caught behind a split that saw him lose 4 seconds to stage winner and overall leader Simon Gerrans. Today Thomas was again held up by a late crash but luckily was awarded the same time as stage winner Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida).

Luke Rowe was also held up in the crash and described what happened.

“With just over a kilometre to go we went over a roundabout and there was a central reservation which I think someone obviously forgot about and hit that,” he said. “I was about 10 riders back and we must have been going about 50km/h but I managed to see it and slow down a bit before we went down. I ended up flying off the road to the left and into a shopkeeper’s doorway. I took a bit of a blow to the helmet but I think I’ve come away pretty unscathed.”
 

The team was very active in the final part of the stage and Porte showed that he is ready to challenge the likes of Gerrans, Ulissi and Cadel Evans (BMC) in the fight for the overall win. He kicked hard under the flamme rouge to make the pace as difficult as possible for his rivals and the Tasmanian was still able to hang on at the finish as the sprint took hold, finishing 6th. Ian Stannard had dug deep a kilometre earlier with a solo attack on the approach to the climb in a bid to set things up for his team-mate.

Earlier Philip Deignan jumped clear on the finishing ramp as the riders were given the bell for the final lap, the Irishman’s acceleration stretching the race late on as Team Sky looked to break up the rhythm.

“We tried to put the pressure on and we tried to take some seconds from Simon Gerrans,” Sports Director Kurt-Asle Arvesen told Sky Sports. “We did our best but G had some bad luck towards the end where he got caught behind the crash. Richie attacked but the bunch was just too big.”

With Gerrans showing superior form, Porte admits that the win will be difficult to achieve but he is still hopeful of a podium place.

"It's going to be hard to beat Simon," he said according to Cyclingnews. "He's in some great form at the moment. But I'd love to be on the podium in my home race.

"Our team were absolutely brilliant at the front all day," he added "We probably have the strongest climbing team here. We rode the last 3km maybe a little bit too hard for the pure sprinters to get over."

Tomorrow the team faces a big test on the stage that sends the riders up the Corkscrew climb just 7,4km from the finish. The team promises to again do their best to unseat Gerrans.

“There’s still two hard stages to go,” Arvesen said, referring to stages 3 and 5. “The boys are ready, they are strong so tomorrow is another chance. We need to try again and put the pressure on. We just have to make sure G and Richie are there when we hit the climb.”

Thomas is now 10th on GC, 17 seconds behind Gerrans, while Porte is 16th, 4 seconds further adrift.