Sam Welsford had everything happen to him today. The race leader crashed, got dropped, but in the end he resisted the adversities and sprinted to victory at stage 2 of the Tour Down Under.
Early in the day the ochre jersey had some action, but one he surely hoped not to have as he hit the deck and did most of the stage in some ripped shorts. Patrick Konrad and Georg Zimmermann were in the early day's break alongside Fergus Browning, in order to collect important bonus seconds, which they've done successfully.
After collecting time in the two intermediate sprints, the duo stopped pacing, and with 46 kilometers to go the riders were caught. There was a positioning battle into Menglers Hill which would finish with around 20 kilometers to go, and the climb wasn't taken lightly. INEOS Grenadiers first took up the pace and then a series of attacks from riders such as Chris Harper, Juan Pedro López and Javier Romo stretched things out at the front.
There wasn't too much damage in the peloton, but stage 1 winner Welsford did get dropped. However, with team support, he returned to the peloton a few kilometers later, as the peloton began preparing for the bunch sprint. And just as happened the previous days, Red Bull - BORA - hangrohe did a textbook leadout, Danny van Poppel led out Welsford who then took a convincing win. Andresen and Bauhaus were blocked by van Poppel and lost speed, it was Arne Marit and Bryan Coquard who completed the podium.
1 | Welsford Sam | Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe | 03:01:22 |
2 | Marit Arne | Intermarché-Wanty | + 00 |
3 | Coquard Bryan | Cofidis | + 00 |
4 | Teutenberg Tim Torn | Lidl-Trek | + 00 |
5 | Lund Andresen Tobias | Team Picnic PostNL | + 00 |
6 | Uhlig Henri | Alpecin-Deceuninck | + 00 |
7 | Watson Sam | INEOS Grenadiers | + 00 |
8 | van Poppel Danny | Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe | + 00 |
9 | Strong Corbin | Israel-Premier Tech | + 00 |
10 | Renard Alexis | Cofidis | + 00 |
11 | Walls Matthew | Groupama-FDJ | + 00 |
12 | Bauhaus Phil | Bahrain Victorious | + 00 |
13 | Raccagni Noviero Andrea | Soudal Quick-Step | + 00 |
14 | Tesfazion Natnael | Movistar Team | + 00 |
15 | Stewart Campbell | Team Jayco-AlUla | + 00 |
16 | Boven Lars | Alpecin-Deceuninck | + 00 |
17 | Canal Carlos | Movistar Team | + 00 |
18 | Tronchon Bastien | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | + 00 |
19 | Labrosse Jordan | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | + 00 |
20 | Askey Lewis | Groupama-FDJ | + 00 |
21 | Porter Rudy | Australia | + 00 |
22 | Williams Stephen | Israel-Premier Tech | + 00 |
23 | Brennan Matthew | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | + 00 |
24 | Lapeira Paul | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | + 00 |
25 | Grondin Donavan | ARKEA-B&B HOTELS | + 00 |
26 | Withen Philipsen Albert | Lidl-Trek | + 00 |
27 | Oliveira Rui | UAE Team Emirates XRG | + 00 |
28 | Mosca Jacopo | Lidl-Trek | + 00 |
29 | Sheffield Magnus | INEOS Grenadiers | + 00 |
30 | Bleddyn Oliver | Australia | + 00 |
31 | Nerurkar Lukas | EF Education-EasyPost | + 00 |
32 | Verre Alessandro | ARKEA-B&B HOTELS | + 00 |
33 | Onley Oscar | Team Picnic PostNL | + 00 |
34 | Vendrame Andrea | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | + 00 |
35 | Stannard Robert | Bahrain Victorious | + 00 |
36 | Kwiatkowski Michal | INEOS Grenadiers | + 00 |
37 | Chaves Esteban | EF Education-EasyPost | + 00 |
38 | Mahoudo Nolann | Cofidis | + 00 |
39 | Glivar Gal | Alpecin-Deceuninck | + 00 |
40 | Godon Dorian | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | + 00 |
41 | Côté Pier-André | Israel-Premier Tech | + 00 |
42 | Swift Ben | INEOS Grenadiers | + 00 |
43 | Pescador Diego | Movistar Team | + 00 |
44 | Norsgaard Mathias Sunekær | Movistar Team | + 00 |
45 | Fisher-Black Finn | Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe | + 00 |
46 | Rochas Rémy | Groupama-FDJ | + 00 |
47 | Harper Chris | Team Jayco-AlUla | + 00 |
48 | Pithie Laurence | Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe | + 00 |
49 | Vine Jay | UAE Team Emirates XRG | + 00 |
50 | Torres Pablo | UAE Team Emirates XRG | + 00 |
51 | Woods Michael | Israel-Premier Tech | + 00 |
52 | Todome Yuhi | EF Education-EasyPost | + 00 |
53 | Leemreize Gijs | Team Picnic PostNL | + 00 |
54 | Narvaez Jhonatan | UAE Team Emirates XRG | + 00 |
55 | Browning Fergus | Australia | + 00 |
56 | Koerdt Bjoern | Team Picnic PostNL | + 00 |
57 | van Belle Loe | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | + 00 |
58 | Bayer Tobias | Alpecin-Deceuninck | + 00 |
59 | Higuita Sergio | XDS Astana Team | + 00 |
60 | Graat Tijmen | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | + 00 |
61 | Serry Pieter | Soudal Quick-Step | + 00 |
62 | Howson Damien | Australia | + 00 |
63 | Lecerf William Junior | Soudal Quick-Step | + 00 |
64 | Schmid Mauro | Team Jayco-AlUla | + 00 |
65 | Huby Antoine | Soudal Quick-Step | + 00 |
66 | Lopez Juan Pedro | Lidl-Trek | + 00 |
67 | Konrad Patrick | Lidl-Trek | + 00 |
68 | Tjøtta Martin | ARKEA-B&B HOTELS | + 00 |
69 | Mackellar Alastair | EF Education-EasyPost | + 00 |
70 | Rodriguez Cristian | ARKEA-B&B HOTELS | + 00 |
71 | Pedersen Casper | Soudal Quick-Step | + 00 |
72 | Beloki Markel | EF Education-EasyPost | + 00 |
73 | Bennett George | Israel-Premier Tech | + 00 |
74 | Bagioli Andrea | Lidl-Trek | + 00 |
76 | Busatto Francesco | Intermarché-Wanty | + 00 |
77 | Marriage Zac | Australia | + 00 |
78 | Ermakov Roman | Bahrain Victorious | + 00 |
79 | Bystrøm Sven Erik | Groupama-FDJ | + 00 |
80 | Zimmermann Georg | Intermarché-Wanty | + 00 |