Santos Tour Down Under: Jay McCarthy leads after stage two win

Australia’s Jay McCarthy moved into the overall lead of the Santos Tour Down Under by winning an uphill sprint on stage two in Stirling.

The Tinkoff rider launched his bid for the line early and held on to beat Italy's Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) in a photo finish, with Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing) taking third.

A crash with just over 500m remaining put paid to the chances of a handful of riders, most notably Orica-GreenEdge duo Simon Gerrans and Daryl Impey, but given that it happened inside the final 3km, they were awarded the same time as the leaders.

McCarthy now takes over at the top of the general classification from compatriot Caleb Ewan, who finished more than six minutes down, with Ulissi climbing to second, four seconds back, and Gerrans rising to third, five seconds adrift.

McCarthy said: "I've been lining up this stage for a few years now. I knew this year, coming to this race, that I was in really good shape.

"Even before the start, I was hoping I would get my chance on this stage and the team sat down before the race and said they would support me today, and I'm glad I could deliver for them.

"I have the chance to go for the GC [general classification] as well this week. It's great to get the victory today, but my week is not finished. I have to go back, recover and prepare for tomorrow's stage. There is plenty more work ahead of us."

The Santos Tour Down Under continues on Thursday with a 139km third stage from Glenelg to Campbelltown. Watch it live on Sky Sports 1HD from 2am to 4.30am GMT.

You can also watch highlights of stage two on Sky Sports 4HD from 6.30pm-7pm GMT on Wednesday.

Follow the Santos Tour Down Under with our day-by-day guide.

Stage two result

1 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Tinkoff, 3:26:40

2 Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre-Merida, same time

3 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing, st

4 Danilo Wyss (Sui) BMC Racing, st

5 Petr Vakov (Cze) Etixx - Quick-Step, st

6 Patrick Bevin (NZ) Cannondale, st

7 Juan Jose Lobato (Esp) Movistar, st

8 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky, st

9 Anthony Roux (Fra) FDJ.fr, st

10 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) LottoNL-Jumbo, st

General classification

1 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Tinkoff, 6:50:43

2 Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre-Merida, +4sec

3 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, +5

4 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing, +6

5 Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data, +9

6 Patrick Bevin (NZ) Cannondale, +10

7 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) LottoNL-Jumbo, same time

8 Juan Jose Lobato (Esp) Movistar, st

9 Anthony Roux (Fra) FDJ.fr, st

10 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Giant-Alpecin, st