Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) has kicked off the 2014 season in the same way he ended 2013 when he won today's second stage of the opening WorldTour race, the Tour Down Under. The Italian timed his kick on the famous uphill finishing straight in Stirling to perfection and held off overall leader Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEDGE) who closed in on the Lampre rider, and Cadel Evans (BMC) while bonus seconds allowed Gerrans to extend his overall lead.

 

When Diego Ulissi arrived in Adelaide for the Tour Down Under, he was very cautious when he was asked to assess his own chances in the race. With wins in the late-season races Milan-Turin, Coppa Sabatini and Giro dell'Emilia, however, he had every reason to be confident in himself and when he finished 4th in yesterday's opening stage, he said that he thought that a good GC result was within reach.

 

Today he laid the foundations for a top performance when he won the second stage of the race, held on the well-known circuit in Stirling with its famous and feared uphill finishing straight. This is the kind of sprint that Ulissi relishes and when he kicked inside the final few hundred metres of the stage, he quickly opened up a big gap.

 

Orica-GreenEDGE had been preparing another win for overall leader and stage 1 winner Simon Gerrans and was amidst doing their lead-out with Daryl Impey when Ulissi took them by surprise. Gerrans opened his sprint to set off in pursuit an closed in on his rival quickly but it was too late. Ulissi crossed the line with time in spare to celebrate win while Gerrans had to be content with 2nd.

 

Cadel Evans (BMC) proved that he is up for the challenge of winning the Tour Down Under when he was part of a small move inside the final kilometre but still had enough left in the tank to take 3rd and take 4 bonus seconds. The 2011 Tour champion has only done the Stirling finish twice but proved his abilities in this kind of punchy sprint by taking 3rd for the second time in a row.

 

Although he lost his status as unbeaten in 2014, Gerrans was happy to add another 6 bonus seconds to his account to open up his overall lead to 7 seconds, with Ulissi moving into 2nd. Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol) who did an impressive job to come back after a late puncture to finish 19th in the same time as Ulissi, moves down to 3rd while Evans in now in 4th.

 

The stage was again dominated by a long-distance breakaway, with Will Clarke (Drapac) being involved in the action for the second day in a row and for third consecutive year on the stage to Stirling. This time his companions were Campbell Flakemore (UniSA) and Boy van Poppel (Trek) but by the time they started the final lap on the 20km circuit in Stirling, van Poppel and Clarke were gobbled up by the peloton as the last two escapees.

 

Gerrans defended his lead in the sprints classification while Adam Hansen (Lotto Belisol) picked up a few points on the day's two climbs to defend his lead in the mountains classification although he is now equal on points with Clarke. Carlos Verona (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) remains the best young rider while Lampre-Merida can add a lead in the teams classification to today's stage win.

 

The battle for GC will kick off in earnest on tomorrow's third stage which takes the riders up the feared Corkscrew climb. From the top only 7,4km remain and they consist of a fast downhill, offering little opportunity to come back. Gerrans faces his first stern test of his position as race leader on the 2,4km climb with 9,0% gradient.

 

A classic stage

The Adelaide suburb of Prospect hosted a stage start for the third year in a row farewelling the 136 riders as they headed off to the Adelaide Hills region ahead of two laps of an undulating, leafy 20 kilometre circuit through and around the finish town of Stirling. The circuit and its uphill finishing straight is a Tour Down Under classic that suits the punchy guys and could give the GC riders an opportunity to take a few bonus seconds ahead of the more serious climbing later in the week.

 

The race started today with two less riders. Australian David Tanner (Belkin) broke his right collar bone in a crash during yesterday's racing and had surgery overnight to repair it and x-rays this morning confirmed a broken scaphoid for Spanish sprinter Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) who will return home for treatment. Rojas joins his team mate Giovanni Visconti who broke his leg in a crash during Sunday's People's Choice Classic.

 

Early aggression

Yesterday the break had gone clear right from the beginning of the stage but today there was a bit more fight to be part of the early action. Clarke was one of the first riders to give it a go and he was joined by Bradley Linfield (UniSA) and Alberto Bettiol (Cannondale) in the first move of the day.

 

The trio was brought back but Clarke refused to give up. He was again part of the next move, joined by Matteo Trentin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Flakemore and Cameron Wurf (Cannondale), but the group never got much leeway. When they were about to get caught, Wurf and Trentin fell back to the peloton but Clarke and Flakemore refused to give up.

 

The break is formed

The two Australians reopened their gap while van Poppel closed the gap a few moments later. While Frank Schleck (Trek) went back to his team car to ask for assistance, the peloton allowed to step off the gas and allow the advantage to grow to more than a minute.

 

The gap got close to the 3-minute mark when they reached the site of the first intermediate sprint at the 25,8km mark.  Van Poppel scored top points in the Adam Internet sprint ahead of Flakemore and Clarke as they decided not to contest the sprint.

 

Battle for KOM points

With the first categorized climb approaching, there was a little more action in the peloton, with a small group trying to get clear. Their mission failed but the increased pace saw the gap drop down to 2.05.

 

The day's two climbs came in quick succession. When the trio contested the Skoda King of the Mountain climb at Golden Grove it was Clarke who crested the hill ahead of Flakemore and Van Poppel. Mountain classification leader, Adam Hansen (Lotto-Belisol) led the peloton over a couple of minutes later to protect his jersey.

 

The second climb of the day was at Checker Hill at the 56 kilometre point and the placings were a repeat of the previous as Clarke lead Flakemore and Van Poppel over the top before Hansen grabbed fourth place points. Hansen and Clarke were now equal on points but with Hansen having won the category 1 sprint on Menglers Hill yesterday, he defended his lead in the classification.

 

Durbridge on the front

Orica-GreenEDGE would not risk anything today and for the second day in a row, they put Luke Durbridge on the front. The time trial specialist used his abilities as a rouleur to keep the gap stable at around 2 minutes for most of the day.

 

As the peloton approached the feed zone, Lotto Belisol showed that they thought that an in-form Greipel could have a shot at victory. They asked Olivier Kaisen to join forces with Durbridge and the duo swapped turns on the front while Orica-GreenEDGE, Sky and Movistar had amassed their troops just behind.

 

No interest in the intermediate sprints

The second intermediate sprint was at Blahannah (85km) where Clarke held off Van Poppel and Flakemore was third, with the trio again deciding not to contest the sprint.

 

As the peloton entered the circuit in Stirling, Matthew Goss joined Durbridge and Kaisen on the front as the pace was upped even further. With the battle for position intensifying, the two teams were replaced by Sky who were keen to keep a high tempo on the difficult section around the finishing city.

 

Flakemore is dropped

The gap was now down to around a minute and with 30km to go, Flakemore had to let his companions go. The UniSA rider was on his own for a little while before being swallowed up by the peloton.

 

The front duo managed to briefly extend their lead but Orica-GreenEDGE was back on the front, the gap started to melt away and as they started the final lap on the circuit, the front duo was caught. This just spurred on a few riders to make their move as a small group got clear, with Jack Bauer (Garmin-Sharp) and Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEDGE) both part of the action.

 

Greipel punctures

The group was quickly brought back and just as this happened, disaster struck for Greipel. The German had a flat front tyre and his Lotto Belisol team now had a hard time bringing their captain back to the peloton.

 

Darren Lapthorne (Drapac) was the next rider to give it a go but when Tinkoff-Saxo - preparing the sprint for Rory Sutherland - hit the front, they brought the escapee back. The yellow-clad team remained in control as they passed the 5km to go banner but was swamped by Sky a little later.

 

Morton sets a fierce pace

Greipel had now come back to the front end of the peloton where Garmin-Sharp and Cannondale had taken control. The latter team put Lachlan Morton on the front when the uphill section started and his hard tempo put several riders into difficulty.

 

Morton cracked and gave way to Bauer while the big names positioned themselves just behind. Ian Stannard (Sky) suddenly opened up a gap but the former British champion only managed to stay clear for a few moments before being reeled in.

 

Evans part of the action

A crash happened near the back of the peloton and brought down several riders who were all awarded the same time as the stage winner. As this happened, Nathan Haas (Garmin-Sharp), Evans and Clarke got clear but their move was unsuccessful.

 

Instead, Orica-GreenEDGE launched their lead-out and seemed to have everything in place for another Gerrans win when Ulissi made his well-timed move. Gerrans sprinted as best he could but ran out of metres and had to settle for 2nd behind the Lampre-Merida captain.

 

Result:

1. Diego Ulissi 3.52.14

2. Simon Gerrans

3. Cadel Evans

4. Francesco Gavazzi

5. Robert Gesink

6. Richie Porte

7. Ben Hermans

8. Fabio Felline

9. Javier Moreno

10. Daryl Impey

 

General classification:

1. Simon Gerrans 7.12.31

2. Diego Ulissi +0.07

3. Andre Greipel +0.11

4. Cadel Evans +0.13

5. Steele Von Hoff

6. Simon Geschke +0.16

7. Francesco Gavazzi +0.17

8. Robert Gesink

9. Maxime Bouet

10. Geraint Thomas

 

Points classification:

1. Simon Gerrans 31

2. Diego Ulissi 27

3. Francesco Gavazzi 22

4. Cadel Evans 20

5. Robert Gesink 17

 

Mountains classification:

1. Adam Hansen 20

2. William Clarke 20

3. Axel Domont 12

4. Campbell Flakemore 12

5. Laurent Didier 8

 

Young Rider Classification:

1. Carlos Verona 7.12.52

2. Luca Wackermann

3. Julian Alaphilippe

4. Rick Zabel

5. Danny Van Poppel

 

Teams classification:

1. Lampre-Merida 21.38.28

2. BMC +0.04

2. Orica-GreenEDGE

4. Lotto-Belisol

5. Astana