Watch: Tour Down Under 2020 stage two highlights

World-class racing continued with stage two of the Tour Down Under 2020.

Wednesday saw the peloton take on a 135km run from Woodside, east of Adelaide, to nearby Stirling, a stage that looked to be a little too tough for the pure sprinters.

Riders faced three laps of a short 11km circuit around Woodside to start, which included four ascents of the Quarry Road climb (1km at 7.1 per cent) in the opening 38km.

The peloton then headed south-west for the short trip to Stirling where they entered the 21km closing circuit and crossed the finish for the first time. Each lap featured a testing short and sharp, but uncategorised, climb to the finish line, with the race decided on the fourth time up the rise.

You can read the full race report from stage two here.

The race continued after a slightly nervous stage one of the TDU, won by Irishman Sam Bennett during his debut for Deceuninck – Quick-Step.

Bennett admitted after the race he had been feeling the pressure to win early with his new team, but he remained composed and took a searing victory.

Other major sprinters in the race include Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal), Elia Viviani (Cofidis) and a reinvigorated André Greipel racing in Israel Start-Up Nation colours.

There are also plenty of general classification contenders looking to hold onto their hopes and make it safely through the day.

Mitchelton-Scott’s Daryl Impey is in the mix again as he looks to take a third consecutive victory, but Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) will have other ideas as he looks to take his second overall win and dominate on Willunga Hill for another year.

Other contenders include Rohan Dennis, who is looking for a fresh start with Team Ineos.

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The six-stage race is centred around Adelaide in the south of Australia with the race set to be decided on the now-famous Willunga Hill.

Richie Porte has won the Willinga Hill stage for six years running, but last year it was Impey who finished the stage in third on the same time as Porte and secured the overall victory by 13 seconds.

We will be bringing you race reports and highlights throughout the week of racing.