The UAE picks up where it left off, winning and crushing the hopes of its opponents.
On the second stage of the Tour Down Under, Adam Yates 's work on the Corkscrew climb paved the way for Vine and Narvaez to arrive in a showdown at Uraidla.

What is surprising is not only the ease with which the UAE team won, but also the gaps they managed to cover on a climb of just 3.6 km, with the first group arriving a full 58" behind.

There are already several major disappointments, even from a Fantacycling perspective: while Romo and O'Connor (+1'08") manage to limit the damage, many other big names are sinking and saying goodbye to the hope of points for a top 15 in the general classification.
Among them, Buitrago and Plapp paid 1'43" while Van Eetvelt and Fisher-Black fared even worse, with 2'21" and 2'17" gaps.

Virtually all the GC riders expected for this Tour Down Under, aside from Narvaez and Vine, have already paid dearly for the rough first stage. We'll see if anyone can bounce back in the decisive stage with Willunga Hill on Saturday.