Tour Down Under: Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig wins stage 2 with stinging uphill sprint

Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-Suez) took stage 2 of the Santos Tour Down Under in a stinging uphill sprint ahead of Soraya Paladin (Canyon-SRAM) and Sofia Bertizzolo (UAE Team ADQ).

The Danish all-rounder exploded from the field after a cagey race through the Adelaide Hills to take a commanding win on the penultimate stage of the three-day stage race. The win moved Uttrup Ludwig into the overall lead.

"Plan A was to sprint for Grace [Brown] and we actually had it all figured out but Grace didn’t feel so good, so had to change the plan but I’m just happy I could execute," Uttrup Ludwig said after the stage.

"It feels good. It’s just so good being in Australia where my boyfriend comes from and taking a win. It’s just awesome. I’m just excited for tomorrow. I’ve done Willunga Hill a couple of times in recon and I think it’s going to be exciting."

With the win on the stage, Uttrup Ludwig now holds the overall lead in the race with a two-second buffer over Bertizzolo ahead of the final stage on Sunday.

An anxious day in the Adelaide Hills

At 104km the second stage of the Santos Women’s Tour Down Under was the longest of the three days, with a challenging profile with 2,079 metres of climbing.

Starting along the coast in Glenelg, and culminating in circuits around Sterling, the stage was a chance for the opportunists in the peloton before the race wrapped up on Sunday with the all-important summit finish on Willunga Hill.

A long 8km neutral rollout began the day, and when the racing got going, cross winds opened up the intensity, with Visma-Lease a Bike taking charge after a change in the direction of the route.

While nothing came of that particular attack, the surge did inject impetus into the race before the first climb of the Cherry Gardens Hill which came after just 10km of racing.

The race stayed relatively compact on the climb as AG Insurance-Soudal and Human Powered Health marshalled the front of the peloton, with AG Insurance-Soudal setting the tempo for their race leader Ally Wollaston and Human Powered Health looking to set up their Queen of the Mountain’s leader Katia Ragusa.

At the top Ragusa was given a full leadout by her teammate Lilly Williams and took the full points to extend her lead in the competition.

After the descent from the Cherry Gardens Hill the stage hit a stalemate as the race plugged away into a headwind through the rolling hills on the way to the crucial finishing circuits around Stirling. A few riders attempted to steal a march but with the headwind and several attentive teams, each of the moves was short-lived.

The sprint point with 68km to go saw a small flurry of action as Dominika Włodarczyk (UAE Team ADQ) and Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv AlUla Jayco) went head-to-head as they did on stage 1. Yet this time the UAE Team ADQ rider took the maximum points and vital bonus seconds ahead of the Australian national champion.

The race continued without a breakaway for the next 18km as the race hit the next intermediate sprint point which was won once again by Włodarczyk ahead of Roseman-Gannon and Lily Williams (Human Powered Health).

Wlodarczyk, who started the day nine seconds back from the race lead of Wollaston, cut six seconds off of her deficit with those sprint wins.

Immediately after the sprint Haylee Fuller (Team Bridgelane) took a flyer and finally stretched the elastic of the peloton, gaining a small 25-second gap ahead of the bunch.

On the first passage of the line four riders attacked the peloton. However, with the likes of AG Insurance Soudal, Visma-Lease a Bike and Canyon-SRAM poised for a sprint, the move was short-lived with the whole race back together with 38km to go.

With 21km to go it was time for the final categorised climb on the Stirling Climb with Ragunsa dutifully grabbing seven more points in the QOM competition, upping her total to 27 points and virtually locking up the overall win in that competition.

A number of attacks followed as the race moved onto its final lap. Emily Watts (Australian National Team) made the most significant move with 16 km to go, forging a gap on her own.

She was able to pull out a margin of around 30 seconds after a couple of kilometres to a dwindling peloton of climbers, domestiques and durable sprinters. Notably, Wollaston was able to hang tough over the climbs of the route and was ensconced within the group with 10km to go.

Eventually, Watts was brought back into the peloton at the bottom of the long descent on the lap, setting the stage for the final push up to the line in Stirling.

AG Insurance-Soudal marshalled the front of the field, as they had for the majority of the race, with new recruit Julie Van de Velde putting in a strong pull for her team leader Sarah Gigante, and race leader Wollaston. With 5km to go, Brodie Chapman (Lidl-Trek) was the first rider to make a late move, but AG Insurance-Soudal were quick to shut it down as the Belgian outfit was set on locking down the race for the final.

In the final kilometre the race bunched up with one final lull in the action as the gradient dipped before the final kick to the line.

With around 300 metres to go, it was Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM) who moved first in the sprint in an effort to set up the finish for her sprinter, Soraya Paladin.

Nevertheless, as the sprint began and Uttrup Ludwig rose out of the saddle, the result seemed to be a formality as one of the most explosive riders in the Women’s WorldTour pulled out a winning margin almost immediately.