Stage winner Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig are her FDj-Suez teamm🎉ate Gr🥂ace Brown hug after the stage(Image credit: Getty Images)
Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-Suez) opens up🎉 her winning sprint on stage 2(Image credit: Getty Images)
Ella Simpson (ARA - Skip Capital) in the short-lived break🍷away(Image credit: Getty Images)
Lidl🥂-Trek’s Ilaria Sanguinetti sets the pace at the front of the fiel🌸d(Image credit: Getty Images)
Emily Watts (Australia) launℱched a short-♏lived solo attack(Image credit: Getty Images)
Peloton spread across the road(Image credit: Getty Images)
Haylee Fuller (BridgeLane) attacks during stage 2(Image credit: Getty Images)
Leader into the stage Ally꧒ Wollaston (AG Insurance Soudal) in the peloton(Image credit: Getty Images)
Visma-Lease a B𝓀ike tried to take💫 advantage of cross winds(Image credit: Getty Images)
Peloton raced through the Adelaide Hills(Image credit: Getty Images)
QOM leader Katia Ragusa (H𒁃uman Powered Health), leader into the stage Ally Wollaston (AG Insurance-Soudal) at the start in Glenelg(Image credit: Getty Images)
Cecile Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-SUEZ) won stage two of the 2024 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Women's Tour Down Under in a reduced uphill sprint finish in Stirling. The Dane took a commanding win over Soraya Paladin (Canyon-SRAM) in second and Sofi﷽a Bertizzolo (UAE Team ADQ) in third.
Stage one winner Ally Wollaston (AG Insurance – Soudal) was dropped on the approach to the line, meaning that Uttrup Ludwig also moved into the race lead with one stage to go. Bertizzolo sits in second place two seconds down and Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv AlUla Jayco) is in third a further second behind Uttrup L🃏udwig.
U🥂ttrup Ludwig and the FDJ-SUEZ squad had to deal with a late change of plan in the approach to the finale but responded to 🐟great effect.
“Plan A was to sprint for Grace [Brown] and we actually had it all figured out how to do it and I was excited about that, but then Grace didn’t feel so good, so we had to👍 change the plan and I’m just happy I could execute,&rdqu💟o; Uttrup Ludwig said after the finish.
It’s the first win of the season for the 28-year-old and she was pleased to be🌞 able to tick that box early in the year.
“It just feels so good being in Australia where my boyfriend comes from and taking a win. It&rsqu𒅌o;s juღst awesome.”
With the margins in the overall classification so tight, the race now heads for a final stage showdown on Wil♉lunga Hill. Uttrup Ludwig is looking forward to defending her lead on the iconic climb.
“I’m just excited, I’ve done it a couple of times as re🌠con and I think it’s going to be fireworks. It⛄ should be exciting.”
How it unfolded
The longest stage i༒n the history of the women's Tour Down Under started on the beachfront in Glen🔴elg. 104.2 lumpy kilometres were ahead of the riders en route to a familiar leg-sapping finish in Stirling.
The tone for the day was set early on as the peloton determined to set a solid pace u🀅p the first category climb of Cherry Gardens Hill. Several riders quickly went out the back with more than 90 kilometres still to race.
Katia Ragusa (Human Powered Health) c✃ontinued her good form from stage one as she crested the climb first in defence of her Queen of the Mountain jersey. With the points earned here and on the other classified climb in the stage, Ragusa looks to be on the way to securing that classification at the end of the race.
Cherry Gardens Hill was just a starter for a day full of intensity. Teams were happy to kꦉeep the pace high throughout most of the stage, which foiled any attempt to form an early breakaway.
Knowing that this race is bound to be decided by a few seconds, the quicker riders with designs on overall success once again saw a chance to take advantage in the general classification at the first intermediate sprint in Meadows. It was Dominika Wlodarczyk (UAE Team ADQ) who took the maximum ꦅpoints and bonus seconds ahead of Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv Jayco AlUla) and Grace Brown (FDJ-SUEZ).
Before entering the tough circu꧋it around Stirling, Wlodarczyk comfortably took the second intermediate sprint ahead of Roseman-Gannon once more, making it six bonus seconds for the day from the two sprints for the young Pole. Both nowꦰ sit three seconds off the lead heading for Willunga Hill on stage 3.
The pace in the peloton remained high the first time around the circui𝓰t, which meant the♌ group stayed largely together despite a few attacks.
The climbs around Stirl𒅌ing are not steep, but the efforts accumulate over time and the group started to stretch and reduce in size on the second lap of three under t♒he impetus of Lidl-Trek and FDJ-SUEZ.
With 16km to go Emily Watts (Australia) surged clearജ of the group and quickly built up a lead of half a minute as th▨e road descended towards the base of the final climb.
Watts was reeled in with 8km to go and on the climb, AG Insurance-Soudal took control of the front of the peloton in support of race leader Ally Wollaston and their general classificatio♔n rider Sarah Gigante.
The final kilometre seemed to take an age as the road dragged on. Several riders surged forward to the front of the ever-reducing peloton before realising that t🌊heir efforts were too soon.
Uttrup Ludwig though was patient, sitting and waiting in the top♛-5 before kicking with 150 metres to go as the gradient flattened. Paladin was on her wheel, but couldn’t respond to the FDJ-SUEZ rider’s acceleration and the Dane took victory by a few bike-lengths on a finish perfectly suited to her characteristics.
Uttrup Ludwig will now wear the ochre jersey on the race’s final battle up Willunga Hill on the third 💧👍and final stage.
Results
Results powered by
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, ཧfeatures, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Dan is a freelance cycling journalist and has written for Cyclingnews since 2023 alongside other work with Cycling Weekly, Rouleur and The Herald Scotland. Dan focuses much of his w🐷ork on profess💜ional cycling beyond its traditional European heartlands and writes a regular Substack called .
