Ewan grabs lead in fire-ravaged Adelaide Hills

ADELAIDE, Australia: Australian sprinter Caleb Ewan surged past defending Tour Down Under champion Daryl Impey to win the second stage and seize the overall race lead on Wednesday.

Ewan, a three-time stage winner in last year’s Tour de France, mastered the uphill finish in Stirling to claim the 135.8-kilometre second stage -- the first to run through the fire-ravaged district of Adelaide Hills -- for his Belgium team Lotto Soudal.

South Africa’s Impey, chasing a third straight TDU title for Mitchelton-Scott, hung on for second and was boosted by a six-second time bonus with Australia’s Cofidis rider Nathan Haas third. Ewan bided his time in landscape lined by charred trees as his former Mitchelton-Scott team ratcheted up the pace on the final climb and the Australian unleashed a perfectly timed sprint to take the win by several bike lengths. Ewan swept to the top of the race general classification ahead of first stage winner Sam Bennett with Impey one second behind in third. Ewen’s win followed Tuesday’s first stage disappointment when he was out of position in the closing stages and came in a disappointing seventh.

Impey was pleased to have gained a six-second time bonus and second in the stage to bolster his title hopes. Irishman Bennett (Deceuninck-QuickStep) was near the front when the sprint cranked up in Wednesday’s stage but faded out of the top 10. The stage, which went through some of the areas badly affected by the recent bushfires where properties were destroyed and a person was killed, was marred by a crash in the final two kilometres that took down Elia Viviani (Cofidis), Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) and Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo), among others.