Geraint Thomas produced an incredible performance at the Tour Down Under to take victory on stage two and move into the race lead.

The Team Sky Brit delivered a stinging attack on the decisive Corkscrew Hill climb, bursting over the top and onto the fast descent into the finish in Rostrevor.

Despite being joined by three fellow attackers, Thomas kept his cool as the quartet held off a group of pursuers in a tense chase to the line. Biding his time in the sprint the Welshman put in an explosive dig to lead home Javier Moreno (Movistar) and Ben Hermans (RadioShack-Leopard), opening up clear daylight at the line to move into a five-second race lead and take the ochre jersey.

"I’m really happy with that. I’ve worked hard since the Olympics trying to lose the track weight and I’ve got some good kilometres in over the winter. I wanted to start this year strong. I knew I had decent form but you never know how well everyone else is going."
 

"I always knew that I’d have decent legs on the climb I just wasn’t sure how I’d go. I got a bit excited and attacked a bit earlier on there. With about 400 metres to go I was starting to tie up but fortunately there was that group behind and we were able to work well together.  To get the win is a massive bonus for all the hard work over the winter."

Kurt-Asle Arvesen, Team Sky Sports Director: "It was a really good day and a really good win for G and for the team. We’ve been doing a lot of work for him to keep him towards the front and when he can pull off a stage win like that it’s perfect. He’s done the climb four or five times in training and the descent as well and he knew the finishing straight. We knew that it was a tailwind on the finish line, so even if he spent some energy attacking and being out there by himself we knew that if he got in the right position he could still win the stage."