Both women and men took on the fast, flat criterium circuit in down town Adelaide. It’s a course for the sprinters and they didn’t let us down.

Women’s Tour Stage 2: People’s Choice Classic circuit Adelaide, 32.3km

14 laps of the 2.3km circuit  delivered a bunch sprint supreme and a  1 – 2 for Cylance Pro Cycling. Sprint queen Kirsten Wild was first over the line, closely followed by teammate Rachele Barbieri with Chloe Hosking (Alé Cipollini) taking third. Amanda Spratt (Orica-Scott) finished safely in the bunch and retains the overall by 19 secs with two stages to go.

Love this shot of a jubilant Kirsten Wild doing what she does best and loving it.

Some video…

Less than two minutes of highlights for two stages, I think we can all agree with Sarah on this one. It’s just not good enough.

Full report at Cycling News.

Race Website  Race Twitter  and also here for Live Updates #TDUWomens

People’s Choice Classic, 50.6km

The traditional opener for the Tour Down Under proper saw the men take on 22 laps of the Adelaide circuit – it was not for the faint-hearted.  Red-hot, pre-race Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott) opened up the afterburners and blasted everyone off his wheel including Bora-Hansgrohe duo of Sam Bennett (second) and Peter –I’m not going for the win– Sagan in third. You have to love the Rainbow Warrior – he just can’t help but race. It was good to watch the fast men and their lead out trains, they’ll have plenty more chances in the Tour Down Under proper.

Chapeau to Dimension Data’s Ben O’Connor. He led the peloton around solo for lap after lap, what a ride indeed.

Yesterday we asked you to help us choose a VeloVoices neo-professional to cheer for in Australia. The results of the twitter poll are in and our winner is Team Sky’s Owain Doull!!

Here he is with the cuddly animal shot

We’ll be keeping a close eye on his first WorldTour race and cheering him every kilometre of the way. You can follow Owain and give him some support on Twitter . Unfortunately Owain was a little under the weather didn’t take the start today – Yikes!! I hope we haven’t jinxed him already.

Full report at Cycling News.

Race Website  Race Twitter  and also here for Live Updates #TDU

Header image: Caleb Ewan  – ©Tim De WaeleKT/Tim De Waele/Corbis via Getty Image