Tom Dumoulin shot to fourth in the short and powerful uphill sprint finish in Wednesday’s Tour Down Under stage two to Stirling. The group split in the wake behind, but Simon Geschke maintained 13th.

Juan Jose Lobato (Movistar) won the 150.5-kilometre stage ahead of Daryl Impey (Orica-GreenEDGE). Dumoulin was attentive and aggressive, but just missed the bonus seconds up for grabs to the first three finishers.

The attention paid off for Geschke because the front group split and the first 48 riders crossed the line 25 seconds up. Geschke moved up one spot and sits 11th in the overall classification at 13 seconds behind leader Jack Bobridge (UniSA).

Three riders escaped after 30 kilometres from the start Unley, but they did not get far. Ahead of the 20 kilometre closing circuit in Stirling, with its 1.3-kilometre climb with 7% gradient, the peloton caught the escaped trio. Dumoulin and Geschke were guided by Koen de Kort through the twisty roads leading to the final climb to Stirling.

“It was a hard but good day, we could stay quiet in the bunch,” race coach Addy Engels said. “It turned into an uphill bunch sprint. Tom came fourth, close to the bonus seconds. Simon placed 13th. He got boxed in, and wasn’t able to help out Tom.”

Dumoulin regretted having missed out on third place. "Then I would have picked up four bonus seconds in the standings and they can be very important later," he told De Telegraaf. "In the final metres, I lost ground. I was empty.

"The GC has been my goal from the beginning. I look from day to day how well I can handle it. It is still very early in the season, making it difficult to say exactly how I am. Of course, this result gives confidence."