Ecuadorian Jhonatan Narváez had an excellent second stage of the Tour Down Under, finishing behind his teammate Jay Vine. This result moved him into second place in the general classification of the prestigious race, the opening event in the top tier of world cycling.
Narváez, the reigning champion, entered the final sprint of this second stage with the host Jay Vine, who edged him out by mere centimeters. “Jay was very strong; I was just following in his wheel on the climb. He prepared very well for this race, and we are happy to have achieved the victory and, of course, we are aiming for the overall win,” the South American rider stated.
It was the 13th WorldTour victory for the formidable Australian rider, who outsprinted Narváez and the Swiss Mauro Schmid (Team Jayco AlUla), while Bogota native Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain – Victorious) finished in 30th place, 1:43 behind the winner.
The day’s breakaway featured Swiss rider Joel Suter (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), Croatian Fran Miholjević (Bahrain – Victorious), Dutchman Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal Quick-Step), Norwegians Storm Ingebrigtsen (Uno-X Mobility) and Martin Urianstad Bugge (Uno-X Mobility), and Australians Lucas Stevenson (National Australian) and Jensen Plowright (Alpecin-Premier Tech), but all were caught by the peloton near the end.
As for the general classification, Denmark’s Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM Team) was unable to retain the orange leader’s jersey and lost first place to local rider Jay Vine of UAE Team Emirates – XRG, who took the overall lead with a six-second advantage over Narváez, and 1 minute and 5 seconds over Switzerland’s Mauro Schmid.
The Australian race continues this Thursday with the third road stage, another rolling 140.8-kilometer route starting in Henley Beach and finishing in the small town of Nairne, in South Australia.
Santos Tour Down Under (2.UWT)
Results Stage 2 | Norwood – Uraidla (148,1 km)
| 1 | Jay Vine | UAE Team Emirates – XRG | 3:36:42 |
| 2 | Jhonatan Narváez | UAE Team Emirates – XRG | m.t. |
| 3 | Mauro Schmid | Team Jayco AlUla | 0:58 |
| 4 | Andreas Kron | Uno-X Mobility | 0:58 |
| 5 | Filippo Zana | Soudal Quick-Step | 0:58 |
| 6 | Natnael Tesfatsion | Movistar Team | 0:58 |
| 7 | Adam Yates | UAE Team Emirates – XRG | 0:58 |
| 8 | Matteo Sobrero | Lidl – Trek | 0:58 |
| 9 | Harry Sweeny | EF Education – EasyPost | 0:58 |
| 10 | Marco Brenner | Tudor Pro Cycling Team | 0:58 |
Ranking General
| 1 | Jay Vine | UAE Team Emirates – XRG | 6:23:33 |
| 2 | Jhonatan Narváez | UAE Team Emirates – XRG | 0:06 |
| 3 | Mauro Schmid | Team Jayco AlUla | 1:05 |
| 4 | Harry Sweeny | EF Education – EasyPost | 1:12 |
| 5 | Marco Brenner | Tudor Pro Cycling Team | 1:14 |
| 6 | Andreas Kron | Uno-X Mobility | 1:16 |
| 7 | Michael Leonard | EF Education – EasyPost | 1:23 |
| 8 | Adam Yates | UAE Team Emirates – XRG | ,, |
| 9 | Andrea Raccagni | Soudal Quick-Step | ,, |
| 10 | Filippo Zana | Soudal Quick-Step | ,, |
Source: Agencia Prensa Latina y Revista Mundo Ciclístico