CYCLING

Bevin talks Tour Down Under - Stage 2

By Aaron S Lee

Cannondale’s Patrick Bevin races to sixth on Stirling stage and general classification on second day of 2016 Santos Tour Down Under.
 

ADELAIDE—With the People’s Choice Classic criterium and the opening sprint stage out of the way, stage 2 opened the door for other riders to shine at the 2016 Santos Tour Down Under on Wednesday in South Australia.

It was a blistering hot day on the 132-kilometre stage 2 course from the charming cosmopolitan township of Unley through the picturesque Adelaide Hills onward for an unprecedented five laps of Stirling before a mad sprint to the finish.

Australian Jay McCarthy (Tinkoff-Saxo) avoided a crash that brought down three-time race winner Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) and picked up his first professional win.

The 23-year-old Queenslander edged Italian Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) and fellow Aussie Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing), to earn his best stage result since finishing third on stage 17 at the 2014 Giro d’Italia. McCarthy also finished third overall at the Tour of Turkey last year.

With the win, the former triathlete-turned-road cyclist lifts the ochre leaders jersey off compatriot Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEdge), who won the opening sprint stage and will be an odds on favourite on stage 6.

Another noticeable shift in overall standings is recently crowned New Zealand time trial champion Patrick Bevin (Cannondale Pro Cycling), who turned heads with a sixth-place finish to move up to sixth on general classification in just his second WorldTour race as a neo-pro.

NZ Bike caught up with Bevin after the stage to get his thoughts on an impressive top 10 result and not being satisfied with sixth.

Bevin’s diary entry: Stage 2 – Unley – Stirling, 132km
It was a great day for me to have a shot and the team certainly set me up really well. But to be honest, even though it’s a top team and only my second WorldTour race, the result was pretty disappointing and a bitter pill to swallow.

Sure it’s sixth, but it stung a bit.

All the courses here are all really good and the crowds are out in full force. The course today was a bit lumpier, which is a bit more to my liking.

Simon Gerrans crashed and I was only a couple of wheels behind him, so I had to make a big acceleration after that which was probably the first nail in my coffin. Then I ended up in the barriers with about 200 metres to go just as you hit the last rise. I found myself on the brakes and realised I’m not going to win on the brakes with just 200m out, so I got out and ran sixth.

It’s not a bad day, but obviously when I sniff the line in a finish like tha,t it’s disappointing not to capitalise on the day.

Tomorrow is ‘The Corkscrew’ and I’ve been fairly quick up that climb before. I’m still climbing really well and you never know with how that finish plays out as it is 6.5km of descending. But first and foremost, we look after our GC guys and then see how it plays out.

Afterwards we have stage 4, which is going to be a sprint after what appears to be a tougher climb, so it’s a bit of a mix over the next couple for sure.

Look, I’m really enjoying my first WorldTour race and I’m taking to it with everything I have. So good to have my legs from nationals and everything is getting better and more comfortable day by day.

There are plenty of things they don’t tell you when you step up to this level and I found myself wasting a fair amount of energy at times when I shouldn’t. You have to learn the ways of the bunch and that doesn’t come straight away, so it’s a good race to do that because it's fairly open and not terribly hard to move around and get up to the finishes – but certainly something that is going to need some work.
At the moment, I’m just taking it day by day and really enjoying it.

Until next time, stay tuned…
-Patrick Bevin

Tomorrow’s entry: Stage 3 – Glenelg – Campbelltown, 139km

Stage 2 results (top 5)
1.    Jay McCarthy, AUS, Tinkoff-Saxo                                    3h26:40
2.    Diego Ulissi, ITA, Lampre-Merida                                     00”
3.    Rohan Dennis, AUS, BMC Racing                                    00”
4.    Danilo Wyss, SUI, BMC Racing                                         00”
5.    Petr Vakoc, CZE, Etixx-QuickStep                                    00”
 
General classification (top 5)
1.    Jay McCarthy, AUS, Tinkoff-Saxo                                   6h50:43”
2.    Diego Ulissi, ITA, Lampre-Merida                                     04”
3.    Simon Gerrans, AUS, Orica-GreenEdge                           05”
4.    Rohan Dennis, AUS, BMC Racing                                     06”
5.    Reinardt Janse van Rensburg                                           09”
 
Aaron S. Lee is a cycling and triathlon columnist for Eurosport and a guest contributor to NZ Bike Magazine. Photo credit Santos Tour Down Under / Regallo