Cycling | Richie Porte wins 2nd stage of Tour Down Under

Australian cyclist Richie Porte won the second stage of the Tour Down Under yesterday, giving him the overall lead in the opening event on the 2017 UCI WorldTour.

Runner-up at the last two editions of the Tour Down Under, Richie put himself in a strong position to go all the way and win the race this time after he took out the gruelling 145.5 kilometer (90 mile) stage from Stirling, in the Adelaide Hills, to the small town of Paracombe, by 16 seconds.

Spain’s Gorka Izaguirre crossed the line second while Colombia’s Esteban Chaves was third. Rohan Dennis, a team mate of Porte for the United States-based BMC Racing Team, recovered from a flat tire to finish fourth.

Yesterday’s stage, featuring several tough climbs and difficult descents, is one of the most demanding and influential stages of the six-day Tour. Two years ago, Dennis went on to win the race after winning the stage.

Porte crashed out of the Olympic road race in Rio de Janiero in September so made winning the Tour Down Under his first objective of a season in which he is aiming for a podium finish at the Tour de France.

He now leads the overall classification by 20 seconds.

“I know I’ve got good climbing legs and didn’t really want to wait around. So to be able to ride away like that gives me good confidence,” Porte said.

“You know there are some stressful days coming up so I won’t be counting our chickens until they hatch.”

This stage featured five laps of a undulating loop through Stirling before the riders turned away and began a series of steep climbs and descents on the way to Paracombe, which has a population of just 350.

The early part of the stage featured a solo breakway by German’s Sasha Sutterlin, riding for the Movistar Team. He opened up a margin of five minutes before he faded and was caught by the peloton. AP