Tour Down Under 2020: Ewan outguns Impey in uphill sprint to move into race lead

A crash inside the last 3 kilometres reduces the peloton to 25 men before Caleb Ewan powers to glory. Title defender Daryl Impey finishes in second, while Ewan succeeds Sam Bennett as overall leader. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 2nd stage Tour Down Under

1. Caleb Ewan (aus)
2. Daryl Impey (rsa) s.t.
3. Nathan Haas (aus) s.t.
4. Jasper Philipsen (bel) s.t.
5. Fabio Felline (ita) s.t.
6. Andrea Vendrame (ita) s.t.
7. Timo Roosen (nld) s.t.
8. Luis León Sánchez (spa) s.t.
9. Diego Ulissi (ita) s.t.
10. George Bennett (nzl) s.t.

GC
1. Caleb Ewan (aus)
2. Sam Bennett (irl) s.t.
3. Daryl Impey (rsa) + 0.01
4. Jasper Philipsen (bel) + 0.04
5. Nathan Haas + 0.05
6. Jarrad Drizners + 0.07
7. Dylan Sunderland + 0.08
8. Chris Lawless + 0.08
9. Jay McCarthy + 0.08
10. George Bennett + 0.09

Race report
Omer Goldstein, Joey Rosskopf, Laurens De Vreese and Sam Jenner form the breakaway. The quartet puts almost 4 minutes into the peloton.

De Vreese is the last attacker to be brought back on the 21 kilometres finish circuit around Stirling. Just after the second intermediate sprint, where Jay McCarty and George Bennett take the remaining bonus seconds, the Belgian is caught.

Following a crash halfway back in the peloton the main group is down to 25 riders. Simon Yates and Elia Viviani are among the victims. Still 1.5 kilometres to go.

The finish in Stirling runs slightly uphill. Cameron Meyer leads out Daryl Impey, but it is Caleb Ewan who takes a comfortable win ahead of the title defender. Nathan Haas finishes in third, while race leader Sam Bennett does not make it into the top 10, although he was near the front when Meyer started his lead-out.

Ewan moves up to first place in the same time as Bennett. Impey now sits in third, 1 second behind the duo.

Romain Bardet loses 2.23 minutes. When he tried to avoid the crash he suffered a mechanical, which caused him to lose contact with the peloton.

Another interesting read: route 2nd stage Tour Down Under 2020.