Place Name: Greenhill Road
Address: 1196 Greenhill Road, Uraidla South Australia 5142, Australia
Details: January 22, 2026
After yesterday's sprint finish, the fast men will have to take a back seat because the profile is more severe for Stage 2. Right out of the gate from Norwood is the 10KM, 4.3% climb up to Ashton via Norton Summit. A gradual descent leads the riders into the town of Uraidla and through the finish line after 26KM of racing in the 148KM stage. There is an intermediate sprint in Lobethal before the first ascent of Corkscrew, a 3.6KM climb at 6.7%. The road keeps going up at the top and continues to climb, making the entire section nearly 9KM at 5%. The course swoops back into Uraidla for another intermediate sprint before passing through Lobethal and Cudlee Creek on the way back to Corkscrew. The second ascent of Corkscrew starts 17KM from the finish. We should see the first GC battles play out here which could result in a reduced GC sprint or, if games start being played, an attacker stealing the day like Javier Romo did last year.
It was a cagey start because no one wanted to go too deep right at the bottom of a 10KM climb. Eventually Joel Suter of Tudor Pro Cycling chipped off the front and was followed by Martin Urianstad Bugge of Uno-X Mobility, Jensen Plowright of Alpecin-Premier Tech, and Lucas Stevenson of the Australian National Team. About 2KM later, Pepijn Reinderink of Soudal Quickstep and Fran Miholjević of Bahrain Victorious attacked and bridged up to make six leaders. UAE-XRG came to the front and set a hard pace to keep the gap from extending too quickly. Even with UAE-XRG setting the pace, Storm Ingebrigtsen of Uno-X Mobility was able to get away and make it to the front to make seven riders with 140KM to go. At the top, their lead was just over 1 minute as Reinderink won the sprint for mountains points ahead of Urianstad Bugge.
The leaders arrived at the finish line in Uraidla with 121.5KM to go with a decent gap of 2 minutes 20 seconds. Little changed in the situation as Plowright rolled through the intermediate sprint in Lobethal with 99KM to go. Vegard Stake Laengen of UAE-XRG, who had been controlling by himself, got some competition at the front of the peloton for the descent into Cudlee Creek and the approach to Corkscrew for the first time. It was a real race into Corkscrew as if the finish was at the base. Jayco AlUla bossed the bunch and led into the foot with 77KM to go with a deficit to the break of just 90 seconds. Near the top, Reinderink sped off to take the KOM but the break reformed and tried to build back some of the their advantage.
The bunch calmed considerably on the climb but UAE-XRG ramped it back up as the road along the ridge line continued to rise. When the road finally tipped down at 68KM to go, the gap was down to 45 seconds. Plowright rolled through the second and final intermediate sprint in Uraidla at 61KM to go with a slightly increased advantage up to 1 minute. The bunch took a collective breath until 36KM to go which saw the gap jump to 1 minute 45 seconds but the action picked back up as Corkscrew was ahead in the distance.
Off the high speed downhill gorge road and onto the twisting approach to the Corkscrew, Miholjević, Reinderink, and Urianstad Bugge went away from the other members of the break but the gap had come right down to just 40 seconds with 23KM to go. The catch was made 19KM from the line on the steepest downhill section passed Kangaroo Creek Reservoir and it was Movistar that led going into the base of the Corkscrew just outside of 15KM to go.
UAE-XRG took over with Adam Yates and rode a blistering pace. 900M from the top, Jay Vine attacked with teammate Jhonatan Narváez on his wheel and the pair were gone. They had 17 seconds by the top but Movistar had three riders and were leading the chase from the remnants of the peloton which numbered around 25 riders. Under the 10KM to go banner, Vine and Narváez had 33 seconds on a new chase group that contained Harry Sweeny of EF-Education EasyPost, Natnael Tesfatsion of Movistar, and Yates who tagged on for the ride. The chase swelled to six when Marco Brenner of Tudor Pro Cycling, Filippo Zana of XDS-Astana, and Mauro Schmid of Jayco AlUla joined up.
The chase group worked reasonably well together and even had the added horsepower of Andreas Kron of Uno-X Mobility who bridged up but they were no match for the UAE-XRG tandem who came to the finish line together. Vine hit the line first to take the victory with Narváez by his side. Schmid won the sprint for third place but it was 58 seconds after Vine and Narváez who, barring catastrophe, will likely hold first and second overall through the end of the race.
The GC now has Vine on the top step by 6 seconds to Narváez and Schmid in third at 1 minute 5 seconds.
Tags: Tour Down Under, 2026, Tour Down Under 2026, Stage 2, January, Norwood, Uraidla, Joel Suter, Martin Urianstad Bugge, Jensen Plowright, Lucas Stevenson, Pepijn Reinderink, Fran Miholjević, Storm Ingebrigtsen, Vegard Stake Laengen, Adam Yates, Jay Vine, Jhonatan Narváez, Harry Sweeny, Natnael Tesfatsion, Marco Brenner, Filippo Zana, Mauro Schmid, Andreas Kron