Philipsen 4th in uphill sprint in Stirling

UAE Team Emirates claimed a double top-ten on stage two of the Santos Tour Down Under with Jasper Philipsen (4th) and Diego Ulissi (9th).

The high speed stage which finished well ahead of schedule was won by Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) who now takes the win and the leaders jersey. 

The rollout was from Woodside with the attacks starting straight away. An early breakaway got away before being reeled in with a small select bunch contesting the finish.

Tomorrow goes from Unley to Paracomb (131km) as the riders move into the Adelaide hills for the toughest stage of the race so far.

Philipsen: “Ulissi won here already on this finish so Marcato was looking after him and I had a free role to play. In the end there was a lot of sprinters still there and Diego was in my wheel. There was plenty of crashes in the last kilometres and though I was in a good position, after the climbing I didn’t have any power left in the legs to push any harder.”

Ulissi: “I thing that the stage went quite well, Marcato and Bystrom helped me to keep my position. I had to make up a few positions due to the crashes in the last kilometres but the key today was not to lose time ahead of the important stage tomorrow. We also had Jasper who was able to do another good sprint.”

Stage 2 Results:

1.Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) 3h27’31”

2.Darl Impey (Mitchelton Scott) s.t

3.Nathan Haas (Cofidis) s.t

4.Jasper Philipsen (Team UAE Emirates) s.t

General Classificatio after stage 2:

1.Caleb Ewan Lotto (Soudal) 6h56’15”

2.Sam Bennett (Deceunick Quickstep) s.t

3.Darl Impey (Mitchelton Scott)  +1″

4.Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates) +1″