The Tour Down Under was presented with its first summit finish on stage 2. After the team picked up time bonuses throughout the day, Jay McCarthy held onto his fourth spot in the GC, looking ahead to the hard riding on the days to come.
Starting the day with two BORA-hansgrohe riders in the GC top five, and with weather conditions far more conducive to racing, this was to be a day when the race for the overall was going to take shape. The 148.5km route included an opening circuit ridden five times, before heading north with 105km remaining. The undulating parcours continued until the highest point of the day, before a descent allowed riders to prepare for the final climb to the finish, where the day’s fireworks were going to happen.
While early attacks came, there was time to be taken in the intermediate sprints and the BORA-hansgrohe riders pushed to keep it all together. Jay McCarthy added all important seconds to his campaign in the first, while in the second, in spite of a rider escaping up the road and building a strong advantage, Michael Kolar and Rudi Selig took second and third respectively in the second sprint, preventing Jay’s rivals from picking up extra time.
With the race nearing its finale, it was all back together as the GC riders prepared themselves to try and take some time. At the 10km mark, and as the race began its final climb to Paracombe, the race looked calm, and as the kilometres ticked down, there were still no significant moves on the front until the race hit the final part of the climb. A late attack left the bunch behind to take the stage win, but finishing with the bunch, Jay held onto his GC fourth spot, making the most of those all important seconds collected earlier in the day.
From the finish, Jay was again quick to thank his BORA-hansgrohe teammates for their efforts over the day. “We made a very good effort as a team, and I had Peter guide me into the final climb with the rest of the team and he was a big help out there, making sure I kept cool. I was delivered to a good position and when Richie went I didn’t want to follow straight away just in case I used too much energy. I’ve been carrying a little bit of sickness these past few days, and it may affect me or it may not, but I can tell everyone I did everything I could out there today.”
Sports Director and Coach, Patxi Vila knew it would be a tough day, but was pleased the team was in the right place at the right time. “It was a good race. We knew it was really hard for everybody and we tried to put everyone in the best positions – everyone did a great job. Jay was in a good position in the final but he just needed some legs. Still he’s up there in the GC, and even with 19 seconds between him and first place he’s still very close to the podium.”
Sponsored by hansgrohe, the profile of stage 3 will see fireworks as the race for the GC hots up. With some of the most challenging terrain of the race, there’s barely a moment of flat road between the start in Glenelg and the finish in Victor Harbor. While the run in to the finish is fairly level, the sprinters may struggle to stay in touch over the full 144km distance. The short, sharp kicks of the finishing circuit, ridden four times, could encourage late attacks and a GC shake up.
