Tour Down Under 2016: Jay McCarthy says there is plenty more to come from Tinkoff

JAY McCarthy has issued a warning to rivals wanting to snatch his Santos Tour Down Under leader’s jersey away from him. WATCH: McCarthy crosses the finish line.

Stage 2 win is just the beginning: McCarthy

• Corkscrew Rd to test TDU’s biggest hitters
• Latest Tour Down Under news and colour
• Best pictures from Stage 2
• Stage 3 map and preview

JAY McCarthy has issued a warning to rivals wanting to snatch his Santos Tour Down Under leader’s jersey away from him.

McCarthy believes his Tinkoff team will guard his No. 1 status with an unforgettable fight after he claimed the biggest stage victory of his career Wednesday.

McCarthy, 23, took his maiden UCI WorldTour stage, shocking the favourites when he crossed the Stirling finish line with Italian Diego Ulissi (second), the only serious threat to the win after a crash with 400m remaining wiped out the big guns.

“I’m not done for the week,’’ McCarthy said.

Aussie Jay McCarthy wins in Stirling! https://t.co/YsQCTafxsn

— Reece Homfray (@reecehomfray) January 20, 2016

“I’m glad the team gave me the chance to win the stage and I’m happy it paid off in the end.

“I was hoping for a top five overall, I knew I had some good training leading in, and I felt like I had some good form.

“Hopefully I can keep working hard and go for my goal and be on the top of the podium at the end of the week.

“I think I can still play a bit of an underdog in the big picture of this race but I feel like the shape is good and I have got a good team around me to go for it.”

Triple Santos Tour Down Under champion Simon Gerrans from Orica-GreenEDGE was the one who was supposed to come into a fast finish to wear the ochre jersey but a crash 400m from the end changed the entire script of this 18th edition of the race.

McCarthy made the most of the carnage which he avoided believing Tinkoff must keep the stars of the race at bay to give him the best hope.

The Corkscrew Road climb is where McCarthy thinks Tinkoff can either make or break his GC hopes.

“I’ve got to get delivered into Corkscrew tomorrow with fresh legs as possible so I can follow the likes of Richie Porte (BMC Racing) and Rohan Dennis (BMC) and Simon Gerrans over the top of it,’’ he said.

“I hope I have enough shape that I can do that.”

TDU Stage 2 in pictures

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McCarthy said Tinkoff has given him free reign — he is usually a domestique — after earning an impressive fifth place at the national road race championships in Ballarat, 11 days ago.

“I was lucky enough to have a good nationals,’’ he said.

“Even before the nationals, the team had given me the opportunity to prepare and come here as a leader.

“I have had extra motivations in the preseason training and hopefully it’s all paying off.”

McCarthy’s team-mate, Italy’s Manuele Boaro, backed the Australian after owning of the King of the Mountain jersey Wednesday.

He says Tinkoff will give McCarthy every chance to claim the biggest title of his career.

“Jay is very strong and we have a good team here to help him,’’ Boaro said.

New Ochre Jersey winner McCarthy salutes the crowd. Photo: Sarah Reed.

“He has good form and we also have another sprinter Adam Blythe (Great Britain) who can also do the job, we’ll look at it day by day.

“We can help Jay win everything.

“Tomorrow we want to control the race.”

Rohan Dennis came in third on a day which saw softly spoken Adam Hansen from Lotto Soudal entertain the fans when he was away for most of the day before he was reeled in with 19km remaining.

The peloton allowed Hansen the luxury of earning a 2 Min 40 sec lead before he was brought back at the 18km mark when the bunch seemingly felt nervous before McCarthy stole the show.

Originally published as Tour Down Under 2016: Jay McCarthy says there is plenty more to come from Tinkoff