Bloodied home rider Sam Welsford yesterday fought back from an early crash to thrillingly win his second straight stage of the Tour Down Under.
It was the Australian’s fifth career stage win at the season-opening UCI World Tour race and yet again he owed much to his Dutch lead-out rider Danny van Poppel and his other Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe teammates to position him for the final push.
Welsford, with his ochre leader’s jersey ripped on his bloodied right shoulder and his cycle shorts shredded from the fall, surged past Van Poppel to take the 128.8km stage in Tanunda Township in South Australia’s Barossa wine district.
Photo: AFP
It was a more convincing win for Welsford than his tight victory on Tuesday over Germany’s Arne Marit of Intermarche-Wanty and Frenchman Bryan Coquard of Cofidis.
Welsford takes a 14-second lead over Marit and British Team Visma rider Matthew Brennan into today’s 147.5km third stage.
“I lost some bark [skin] off in the first five kilometers of the race, that was less than ideal, it was a pretty hard day out there,” Welsford said. “On the last time up the climb I was on my limit, but I had the boys around the whole time, we kept calm, we knew it was a long, hard finish.”
Welsford, who won three stages in last year’s Tour Down Under, praised the selfless work of his teammate Van Poppel to again present him the opportunity to finish it off.
“He put me back on after the climb and I was happy to finish it off for him alone,” he said. “We knew if we got back on to the peloton we would be in with a sniff, and I said to the boys: ‘Get me back on and I’m going to win this bloody thing.’”
It was a hair-raising sprint into Tanunda with Welsford bumping shoulders with rival riders to get himself into position behind Van Poppel.
The second stage was the last chance for the sprinters until Sunday’s sixth and final stage. From today it is more conducive for the climbers and the general classification contenders.
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