Stage 2 is one of the two crucial days for the GC. For the puncheurs among the contenders, the likes of Bobridge, Izagirre or Lecuisinier, the race needs to be as tough as possible to shake off the time trial specialists.
On the other hand, for guys like Würtz, Ganna or even Mano to some extent, it’s about keeping the gaps to the front as slim as possible, and then wreck stuff in the time trial tomorrow.
In the midst of all of this, Phinney is probably just chilling, thinking about where to put the third trophy on his book shelf. But perhaps he shouldn’t get ahead of himself …
There are 36 mountain points available compared to Ponzi’s leading 12 points in the classification. Prevar already has a small head start with 4 points from yesterday. He’s the first to attack, followed by Buchmann - interesting choice considering he could also hope for a good result in the finale from the pack. Sureda joins as well, firmly the worst puncheur of the trio.
Those three are brought back at first, but try again following an absolutely puzzling attack: Mohoric, one of the legitimate top favorites for the stage, doesn’t seem to want to wait for the final kilometers to do something.
Is he in it for the mountain points? He collects five of them, passing the summit over a minute ahead of the peloton, where Quita attacks. He scores three points, Hofstede the final one.
Quita drops back, but Hofstede continues to chase Mohoric. He’s almost there at the intermediate sprint, but not quite.
Some two minutes later, Samolenkov scores two points and seconds.
We’re 30 kilometers into the race and things still haven’t settled down. Narvaez, Prevar and Vincent attack!
Narvaez almost makes it to Mohoric by the second mountain classification of the day. Hofstede blew up and is back in the peloton, Vincent is still trying. The gap from E1 to the peloton is just under a minute.
A breakaway really can’t be much more disjointed than this. Mohoric is suffering and fell behind Narvaez, who’s now the lone leader on the road. Maybe the Slovenian champion can recover a bit alongside Vincent.
But it’s soon over for both of them. 10 mountain points and a whole lot of wasted energy for Mohoric, not sure that’s what he had hoped for.
Narvaez also doesn’t last, so Buchmann senses an opportunity and attacks to collect 6 mountain points. De Gendt and Munton lead the peloton over the line for 4 and 2 points, respectively.
Buchmann had stayed ahead for a long time, most of it solo. But just before the penultimate mountain sprint, Primozic comes from behind to overtake him. All those attacks, and the mountain jersey still rests on Ponzi’s shoulders. But there are 10 more points available on the upcoming mountain sprint and another 5 at the finish. The peloton is close.
Gruppo compatto at the final intermediate sprint. Ackermann barely beats Moser, but those four points could be absolutely crucial for the Italian in the points competition.
Tinkoff have been a major force in the peloton all day, they seem to put a lot of faith into Skujins. Aegon for De Bie and Gazelle for Lutsenko have also done a lot of work.
A quick look at the final 20km as we head into them. The first question is, will any of the favorites already try to make a move at the upcoming climb, despite the long flat and downhill stretches afterwards?
Heading into that climb, we see a first split in the peloton. 68 riders are off the back, the most prominent one being Bobridge. Some guys who were maybe hoping for minor GC points are in here as well, such as Rikunov, Foss or Barbio.
Kanerva sets a brutal pace up the hill, keeping everything together. Lutsenko is attentive right behind him, then Skujins, De Bie, Gidich, Ponzi, a perhaps recoverd Mohoric, Sagan and Vakoc.
The likes of Phinney, Lecuisinier or Wirtgen are in the first third of the peloton, but keep themselves out of the wind for now.
With 10 kilometers to go, Bobridge is back in the peloton. He needs to be more attentive in the finale.
Just over 5 kilometers to go and we’re right in the fight for the stage! On an incline of 14,5%, Lutsenko tries to make good on his team’s work, Sagan follows immediately.
Skujins joins them and they get a decent gap. De Bie was a bit late and now tries to bridge the gap. Vakoc leads the peloton where we now also see some lime green popping up. It’s Cherkasov, trying to control the situation for Phinney.
After a short downhill, we head into the last 2,5 kilometers, all uphill but only really steep near the top. De Bie is 9 seconds behind the leaders and 13 ahead of the peloton …
… which has shrunk considerably to just 21 riders. Notable absences include Chiarello and the rest of the deep ELCO squad, Keizer, Sepulveda and Bobridge, all in the next group some 28 seconds behind. Notably, Würtz and Ganna are still with the top favorites pictured here. Can they hang on?
It’s going to be tough, as Lecuisinier ups the pace inside the final 2 kilometers. De Bie isn’t able to close the gap to the leading trio, which still has almost 30 seconds of a lead.
There goes Würtz, and Oliveira has been dropped just outside the frame as well. Ganna still tries to hang on at the tail end of the main group next to Geoghegan Hart.
The leaders reach the red kite and they should fight for this stage win. It’s not clear yet who could be the strongest.
Sagan takes an early lead, can Lutsenko or Skujins strike back? De Bie is still in fourth place, but basically caught by the peloton. Ganna is hanging on by a thread, now in last position back there.
200 meters and it looks like a done deal!
Behind them, Phinney, Mohoric, Valter and Wirtgen lead the way. Ganna has been dropped, as has - surprisingly - Gidich.
Before we look at the GC implications, let’s take a moment to celebrate Sagan’s stage win! Beautiful effort, and a well deserved day in yellow ahead of him now. Lutsenko and Skujins still validate their teams’ efforts and finish second and third.
Wirtgen finishes 4th ahead of Mohoric - what could he have done without the breakaway efforts? Lecuisinier 6th, then Phinney and Valter.
As you can see, the big group around the previuosly mentioned distanced riders has swept up the dropping riders around Ganna and are making up ground quickly. It will be interesting to see where the jury will set the time gaps.
Izagirre and Tenorio complete the top 10 ahead of a disappointing and disappointed De Bie. Then Vakoc and Mano, but more importantly, it looks like this might be counted as one big group!
Before we check that, quick shoutout to Ponzi, who makes this already great day even better for Moser, eventhough he really didn’t do anything. But what he did yesterday is enough to end the race with the polkadots.
After a few minutes, the jury verdict comes in. 25 seconds for the three leaders, and then … another time gap behind Turgis in 21st, and a significant one! 51 seconds to a group of 12 that includes Ganna, Cataford, Goos and Sepulveda. Then another 37 seconds to the group with Würtz, Oliveira and Keizer, among others.
Notably, two guys who were mentioned as distanced earlier managed to recover and crack the Top 20: Chiarello and Bobridge. They’re in a strong position for a nice GC result now.
Top favorites of course remain Phinney and Wirtgen as well as Tenorio, Mano and Lecuisinier.
Tour of Tasmania 
