Viviani: We were never in a good position today at the Tour Down Under
What a difference a day makes in the high-octane world of sprinting. From winning the stage and taking the ochre leader's jersey on stage 1 of the Tour Down Under on Tuesday, to being out of the sprinting mix and losing the race lead on Wednesday, Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep) has had a mixed couple of days.
It could have been a lot worse. Despite everything, Viviani managed to avoid the crash that took down a number of riders just inside the final kilometre of stage 2.
However, having been caught out of position, the Italian road race champion was left with too much to do to take a second stage win out of two and defend his race lead from stage winner Paddy Bevin (CCC Team), whose 10-second win-bonus gave the New Zealander the leader's jersey.
"We knew that everything needed to go perfectly in order for us to try to win the stage, but we were never in a good position today," Viviani admitted. "We were always in trouble, and then the crash happened and, although we just missed it, I had to do a 'double sprint' to try to catch up.
"When I started my sprint, I was still thinking that maybe I could catch up, but my legs didn't agree. I think I was up to about fourth or fifth place, but I wasn't able to go again to go for the win. I think Bevin did an amazing sprint, beating some of the best sprinters, but, as I say, it wasn't an easy sprint today."
Viviani said that he didn't see the crash, which initially happened on the left-hand side of the road before spreading across the group.
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