Guillaume Marion, Media365, published on Wednesday January 22, 2025 at 11:50 a.m.
Like the day before, Sam Welsford (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) won the 2nd stage of the Tour Under Down in a sprint. At Tanunda, the Australian notably beat Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) who took 3rd place.
Clearly, Sam Welsford is still having a blast on his land. Indeed, while he already had four victories on the Tour Down Under to his name (three in 2024, including one at Tanunda, and one this year), the Australian sprinter won a 5th during the 2nd stage of the first race of the season on the World Tour calendar. This Wednesday, after nearly 129 kilometers around Tanunda, the rider from the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team was once again the strongest in the sprint and notably ahead of the Belgian Arne Marit on the line (Intermarché-Wanty). However, the day was not easy for Welsford who fell at the start of this 2nd stage of the Tour Down Under, before then having to hang on in the last small difficulty of the day (at 6.9%).
Coquard in the top 10 ahead of Tronchon
Well helped by his teammates, the Australian sprinter achieved the double, having already won on Tuesday, and therefore consolidates his first place in the general classification, now 14 seconds ahead of Marit. “ I’m happy that I was able to get the victory for the team », subsequently explained the rider from the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team, after the race. For his part, after having had to settle for 16th place during the 1st stage, Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) this time took 3rd place during the sprint. Thanks to this, the Frenchman enters the top 10 in 9th place, just ahead of Bastien Tronchon (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale).
-CYCLING – UCI WORLD TOUR / TOUR DOWN UNDER
2nd stage (Tanunda – Tanunda, 128.8 km) – Wednesday January 22, 2025
1- Sam Welsford (AUS/Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) at 3h01’22”
2- Arne Marit (BEL/Intermarché-Wanty) mt
3- Bryan Coquard (FRA/Cofidis) mt
4- Tim Torn Teutenberg (ALL/Lidl-Trek) mt
5- Tobias Lund Andresen (DAN/Picnic-PostNL) mt
…
General ranking after 2 stages (out of 6)
1- Sam Welsford (AUS/Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) in 6h27’40”
2- Arne Marit (BEL/Intermarché-Wanty) at 14”
3- Matthew Brennan (GBR/Visma-Lease a Bike) mt
4- Patrick Konrad (AUT/Lidl-Trek) at 15”
5- Georg Zimmermann (ALL/Intermarché-Wanty) mt
…
9- Bryan Coquard (FRA/Cofidis) at 16”
…
