Here is the link to the actual penguin statue in Penguin (no rickroll, I swear), our starting point of the second stage. After 150 kilometer we finish in Bonneys Tire Forest Reserve, conquering many hills along the way. Since this is a protected area according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the riders are not allowed to litter this stage. Yesterday saw some crazy action with the yellow jersey over the shoulders of Riesebeek and many riders favored for today's stage losing minutes due to a gust of wind. What will today have in store for us?
The first attack is a rider who was amongst the losers yesterday: Latour. Just before the first mountain sprint he is overtaken by Helme, who takes the five points available, the Frenchman taking three and Sivakov taking one. With them for now are Crncevic, Fritsch and Karatzios.
There is an intermediate sprint but the riders don't seem to notice, Crncevic the lucky one. More interestingly a second group with some big names is on its way: Bakelants Siriwardena McCarthy Gastauer Rodriguez Galindo Barthe Ioannidis Betancourt
Helme wins the same mountain sprint to get to ten points and tie with current holder Riesebeek, though worn today by Brockhoff. McCarthy three points, Crncevic one. The Australian made the jump together with Bakelants and Siriwardena. Gastauer and Betancourt are still at one minute as only remaining chasers, the peloton at 2'30, rightfully concerned with the strength of the breakaway.
McCarthy continues his challenge for the polka dots by winning this cat three climb and taking six points, now one point behind the joint-leaders. Karatzios four, Crncevic two. Gastauer and Betancourt are not getting closer, now at 1'30 with 85 kilometer to go, the peloton still at 2'30.
Their attempt can definitively be called unsuccessful as the duo is caught with 70 kilometer remaining. Grieg, Bennelong, eBuddy, Isostar and Generali leading the pack, no need for Evonik to be helping out.
Helme and McCarthy battle it out on the next climb of category four, but Bakelants snatches the five points away. As the Australian beats the Swede for second, the former is now the virtual leader by a single point. The next climb is of the second category, fifteen kilometer from the finish line.
Unlike the first, the second intermediate sprint is contested, with the bonus seconds going to Fritsch, Crncevic and Karatzios. The gap to the peloton has gone up to three minutes, 30 kilometer to go. Karatzios is the highest ranked rider in the GC at + 4'14, so no illusions of the yellow jersey.
On the toughest climb so far, one kilometer to the top with the lead already down to 1'10 as Polanc puts the hammer down. A few riders have been dropped from the peloton, though none of the top six or any of the favorites. After this climb it is continuously up and down, no time to recover.
Helme is far and away the strongest on the climb, taking ten points while his rival McCarthy finishes outside the points, thus the Swede now has an unassailable lead with only the final climb awarding a handful of points. Latour eight, Siriwardena six, Sivakov four and Crncevic two for completeness.
Isostar and Moser push on, reducing the group of favorites to nineteen: Schlegel Polanc Calmejane Kozhatayev Kinoshita Reichenbach Sagan Lutsenko Mohoric Ponzi Phinney Hagen Koretzky Dennis Masnada Van Garderen Betancourt Pluchkin Bobridge
Boswell and Gidich a few seconds behind.
The next group contains Christensen, Goldstein, Brockhoff and Holmes as well as Lopez, Kwiatkowski, Keizer and Brändle. For Riesebeek (and Polnicky), things look bleak.
The road goes back up with ten kilometer to go, the two groups merged back together. The nine breakaway riders still have a minutes lead.
Group three also close to returning, including yellow jersey Riesebeek but he's not looking that fresh anymore. Hanging on to yellow will be difficult, but he'll always have the memories.
A very steep bit with five to go is the ideal place for McCarthy to attack. Lutsenko and Sagan have the same idea in the peloton, the gap of 30 seconds looking a lot less due to the nature of the road.
The duo passes the remains of the morning breakaway minus McCarthy, though it will be a matter of time before he is caught as well. Downhill then back up to finish line at Bonneys Tire Forest Reserve, a very steep climb.
McCarthy is caught within the final two kilometer at the foot of the final hill. Behind them, Kinoshita and Ponzi have also attacked and are twenty seconds down. At another twenty seconds the former break plus Hagen, Phinney, Bobridge and Dennis.
McCarthy tucks in behind Sagan, Lutsenko looks to be struggling more. Kinoshita and Ponzi only marginally ahead of the chasing group.
Helme has a great day, the mountains classification is his and he hangs on to Phinney and Hagen, almost catching Kinoshita and Ponzi. The leading trio is entering the final kilometer.
Sagan opens the sprint at 500 meters, McCarthy can answer, Lutsenko not. The Kazakh falling back towards Ponzi with Kinoshita taking his own road on the outside.
McCarthy sits down again, buy Ponzi has found a burst of speed, threatening Sagan.
Sagan cockily celebrates at 100 meters while Ponzi is fast approaching and now Phinney with a huge acceleration from behind.
The Slovak sits down for safety and rolls over the line, now he can celebrate all he wants! Peter Sagan is your winner of the second stage here in Tasmania! It's a shame he is six minutes down in the GC, as the gaps aren't big enough to bring him back in contention.
Simone Ponzi finishes in second, who lost four minutes yesterday and will gain back most of that, though not on the guy behind him who will finish in the same time, + 10.
That guy is Taylor Phinney, who did finish in the peloton yesterday and is now in pole position for the yellow jersey, depending on where the six from yesterday end up.
Kinoshita (+ 22) takes fourth ahead of McCarthy (+ 32), with a valiant effort from the break to get fifth. Hagen (+ 32) sixth, Lutsenko (+ 49) dropping back to seventh.
A few riders saved energy for the final kilometer, passing the breakaway riders. Van Garderen, Kwiatkowski, Koretzky and Pluchkin from eighth to eleventh at + 58. Bobridge and Vakoc at + 1'14.
Helme imploded in the final kilometer, but can be very satisfied with a fourteenth place. He finishes ahead of his former companions Sivakov, Siriwardena, Fritsch, Latour, Bakelants and Crncevic.
Behind them are some other outsiders finishing around 2'30: Dennis, Kangert and Brändle. Powless, Karatzios and Meintjes at 2'51, twenty-fourth to twenty-sixth. Now we wait for the first of the big six to cross the line.
Holmes (lightblue, middle) and Christensen (green, left) finish in 54th and 56th position, which is very respectable. While they cross the line at about four minutes, the group in which they are extends all the way from Gidich in 27th, meaning they only lose 3'07!
Riders who finish in this time are Mohoric, Oliveira, Wirtgen, Sepulveda, Keizer, Reichenbach, Betancourt, Laengen, Boswell, Goncalves, Zoidl, Stüssi, Dyball, Shikai, Würtz and Rosskopf.
Brockhoff 77th and Goldstein 80th at 4'21 in the same time as Goos, a disappointing Coppel (87th) and a very shocking Lopez (100th).
And here is the yellow jersey for his final meters. Riesebeek finishes 102nd, at 5'22 from the winner and just ahead of Polnicky. The Dutchman will lose the yellow jersey but maintains a decent position in the GC. However, he is not that great in time trials so will most likely drop further.
So who receives the yellow jersey after today? We actually had to get a tiebreaker criteria on stage results. Taylor Phinney and Ryan Christensen are exactly tied on time, but the American receives the jersey on countback. There is no chance he will give it away tomorrow, while the New Zealander can dream of the biggest achievement in his young career. Matthew Holmes follows at six seconds, also dreaming of great things. Hagen, Lutsenko, Van Garderen, Pluchkin and Koretzky are within a minute from fourth to eighth. Bobridge ninth (+ 1'12), Ponzi tenth (+ 1'17), and then Goldstein (+ 1'18) and Brockhoff (+ 1'22). The Israeli is one of the better time trialists in the top and could score a very surprising end result. Riesebeek drops back to fourteenth (+ 1'55), Polnicky to 21st (+ 2'38).
As consolation prize, Oscar Riesebeek receives the green jersey though his lead is not safe to a Phinney win tomorrow. Sasu Helme needs to not get lost tomorrow to win the mountains classification. Ryan Christensen has a 1'18 lead over Goldstein in the young rider classification, while Bennelong - Mitchelton has a 51 second lead over cycleYorkshire in the teams classification.
