You never know what sort of a spectacle you'll find at a stage departure but today's was certainly entertaining!
The winners from the women's race, Santos Women's Cup, were on hand.
The sign on got underway and it wasn't long before I was in mid conversation with the couple next to me. This was a conversation I've had dozens of times and it tends to go like this.
Other fans: Wow, you have a lot of autographs! How many years have you had that flag?
Me: Um, this is just from the Tour Down Under.
Other fans: Really?
Me: Yeah. I really like cycling.
Other fans: Have you been to the races in Europe? What about the Tour de France?
Me: Yeah, I was in Europe for most of the season last year and I saw a lot of races. I went to some of the Spring classics, all the Grand Tours, Eneco, the Worlds, and a few other races.
Other fans give me a surprised look and say, jokingly: You must know a lot of the riders! Haha!
Me: Uh, well, kind of, yeah. A lot of them recognize me.
Other fans: Really?
I nod.
Other fans: Hey, do you know (insert popular rider here)? Can you get him to come over? I'd love to meet him!
Me: Yeah, ok, I actually do kind of know him. I met him at a bunch of races last year and he was really nice. I can't promise anything but I'll try.
Other fans: Ok!
And eight times out of ten, that rider will come when he sees me waving him over. Today it was Jens Voigt that my neighbors wanted to meet and they were pretty tickled when I got him to come over (to be fair, Jens is the most social of all the riders and they stood a good chance of meeting him even if I hadn't been there!).
Other fans: Hey, standing next to you is better than standing next to a little kid! Thanks!
Below: rider sign on in action.
Shortly before the stage was due to start at 11am, Jack Bauer was the first to roll up to the start line.
Riders kill time by catching up with their friends and double checking their bikes.
Juan Jose Lobato does some final stretches before going to work.
The peloton.
And they're off!
I made my way to the bus stop back to the city where I waited for the bus. And I waited. And I waited. And an hour later the bus, which was scheduled to arrive every 15 minutes, finally appeared. I wasn't sure if I'd have time to get back to Adelaide, catch another bus to the finish, and get a semi-decent viewing spot. In stressful times like this, all my yoga breathing comes in handy! I did finally make it to the town of Stirling where it felt like a massive block party.
The cycling gods were smiling on me, after all, as I not only got a spot with an ideal view of both the approaching course and the finish line, but I got to chat with a local father-daughter duo who were great company.
The 3 man breakaway of Boy Van Poppel, Will Clarke, and Campbell Flakemore had less than 2 minutes on the peloton on the first of 3 laps with less than 50km to go.
The peloton was largely together.
Steele Von Hoff borrowed the sprint leader's jersey as neither Simon Gerrans nor Andre Greipel could wear it due to their other jerseys, despite being ahead of Von Hoff in the sprint competition.
The break away had dropped Flakemore on the second lap and Van Poppel and Clarke had mere seconds to go before being swallowed up by the looming peloton.
The final kilometers of the third lap were intense: teams organizing, attacks and counterattacks, and–yikes–a crash. Listening to the commentary, the last 100 meters sounded like a horse race. It came down to a sprint with Simon Gerrans, Diego Ulissi, and Cadel Evans roaring up the road. The crowd was going crazy with their cowbells and noise makers!
Italian Diego Ulissi took the win with Gerrans and Evans placing second and third, respectively.
Nathan Haas finished ahead of Andre Greipel.
The peloton had fractured into clusters on the last lap and the riders did their best to power up the final 25 meters.
After the stage, Steele Von Hoff now sits in fifth place, just 13 seconds off the overall lead.
Rohan Dennis faded on the last lap.
Some of the riders just about came to a dead stop as soon as they crossed the finish line. Most of them still had to ride the 20km back to Adelaide.
Manuele Mori celebrates his teammate's victory.
Mark Renshaw and Matteo Trentin.
Jussi Veikkanen and Kenny Elissonde.
Lachlan Morton and Michael Bling Matthews.
Bernie Eisel and Luke Rowe shared a word as 4 Tinkoff riders follow.
Around 6 minutes after Ulissi's win, a battered Caleb Ewan finished, his shorts badly ripped and not hiding the nasty scrapes on his backside after the crash.
Having spent the last 2 days in the break away, Will Clarke rode in alone.
Still feeling the effects of yesterday's break away, UniSA's Neil Van Der Ploeg may have finished almost 15 minutes down but he did it in style, popping a wheelie to an approving audience.
Nearly 20 minutes had passed since the the stage winner was declared before the final cyclist came home. Even though the awards ceremony had already started, most of the crowd stayed put to cheer in Campbell Flakemore, exhausted after his time in the break away.
Simon Gerrans retained the overall leader's ochre jersey.
Will Clarke in the Most Competitive Rider jersey for the second day.
Gerrans also leads the sprint competition, though the jersey will most likely be loaned to Diego Ulissi for stage 3.
Adam Hansen, King of the Mountains.
Carlos Verona looks quite pleased to keep his best young rider jersey.
I caught the bus back to the city where a small army of fans awaited the cyclists in front of their hotel.
Stage results
1st Diego Ulissi (Italy, Lampre)
2nd Simon Gerrans (Australia, Orica GreenEdge)
3rd Cadel Evans (Australia, BMC)
General classification
1st Simon Gerrans (Australia, Orica GreenEdge)
2nd Diego Ulissi (Italy, Lampre)
3rd Andre Greipel (Germany, Lotto Belisol)
Today's 17 autographs: 2 Brent Bookwalter, 5 Steve Morabito, 12 Simon Clarke, 14 Mathew Hayman, 51 Nicki Sørensen, 62 Phil Deignan, 63 Geraint Thomas, 66 Nathan Earl, 81 Enrico Gasparotto, 84 Lieuwe Westra, 94 Bjorn Thurau, 124 Juan Jose Lobato, 131 Rohan Dennis, 133 Nathan Haas, 136 Caleb Fairly, 151 Robert Gesink, and 177 Cameron Wurf.