Philipsen in the front row again, 5th in Tour Down Under sprint

Jasper Philipsen is showing his potential again as a young talent with a fifth place in Tour Down Under stage two. The stage covered 122.1km from Norwood to Angaston.
Patrick Bevin (CCC Team) won ahead of Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal). Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) took third and Danny Van Poppel (Team Jumbo-Visma) fourth ahead of Philipsen.

This stage finished differently from the sprint into town yesterday to open the Australian stage race, when the Belgian of UAE Team Emirates (photo Bettini) placed sixth. Stage two climbed slightly and consistently to its finish line, which allowed Philipsen to use his base and resistance over the other sprinters.

“It was a serious battle to get in position for the sprint,” said Philipsen, now 12th in the overall classification. “I jumped from wheel to wheel until I found the right situation, in the slipstream of Sagan. I felt well in the sprint, but not good enough to make up those positions for the finish line. We are at the start of the season, my condition will only continue to rise, which is a comforting feeling“.

UAE Team Emirates kept control of the top place in the teams classification even if in the final Diego Ulissi and Tadej Pogacar were involved in a crash. Luckily, the crash did not affect the riders seriously.

Stage 2 finish
1 Patrick Bevin (CCC Team) 3h14’31”
2 Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) s.t.
3 Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) s.t.
5 Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates) s.t.

Overall classification after stage 2
1 Patrick Bevin (CCC Team) 6h34’03”
2 Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-Quick Step 5″
3 Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) 9″
12 Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates) 15″