Go Diego Go! Italian Ulissi shocks Tour Down Under by stealing Stage 2 from Aussie rivals

DIEGO Ulissi has upset Aussie favourites Simon Gerrans and Cadel Evans to pinch Stage Two of the Tour Down Under.

DIEGO Ulissi is up for causing another shock at the 2014 Santos Tour Down Under after the Italian upstaged the favourites at Stirling.

Ulissi said he "surprised himself" after pulling away from a star-studded breakaway group to turn the race on its head.

Ulissi became just the second Italian to win a stage at the Tour Down Under after Francesco Chicchi claimed the final stage of the 2009 edition.

Lampre-Merida's 24-year-old also earned the Italian outfit's first stage victory of the Tour Down Under.

The Tuscan-born all-rounder surprised the entire final breakaway which was poised to get favourites Orica-GreenEDGE's Simon Gerrans, BMC Racing's Cadel Evans and Germany's Lotto-Belisol sprint gun Andre Greipel first over the Stirling finish line.

But the Italian had enough power to keep the tour's elite at bay and stun the field.

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"The race was very good and Orica-GreenEDGE was doing a lot of work for most of the day," said Ulissi, a two-time Italian junior road champion. "I'm sure that they made it hard for everyone to try and anticipate the sprinters arrival at the finish line.

"I never expected to win because Evans and Gerrans, I saw them very strong and I even surprised myself."

Ulissi's win has issued a warning to the peloton despite Lampre-Merida potentially losing Spanish rider Rafael Valls Ferri to a suspected fractured collarbone when he crashed about 2km from Stirling.

Ulissi said the Stirling stage finish - a light uphill climb - really suited his style.

"The stage suited my characteristics and last year (in Europe) when I had these types of finishes I did really well," he said. "This year we have started off on the right foot."

News_Rich_Media: Aussie Simon Gerrans has maintained his lead of the Tour Down Under after finishing second in stage two, just ahead of compatriot Cadel Evans.

Ulissi now is the dark horse to do more damage to the peloton's favourites given today's stage three - Norwood to Campbelltown - and the final Corkscrew Rd climb before the super-fast Montacute Rd descent suits the Italian and his teammate Roberto Ferrari.

Ulissi has shown what he is capable in the past when he claimed a 2011 Giro D'Italia stage win, a stage victory in the 2013 Tour of Poland and single day race wins at Milano-Torino and Giro dell'Emilia.

Ulissi is poised to do the unthinkable if his team can rally around him during the next four stages of the race.

But Ulissi wasn't sure if he could stave off rivals in the chase for his first GC stage race win since claiming the 2013 Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali and the 2011 Tour of Slovenia.

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"I'm not too sure of my condition," Ulissi said. "I have to see, but this race has given me confidence. It's an important race - it's WorldTour, and I want to do well in GC right up until the end.

"So I'll take it day by day.

"Beating (Gerrans), I never expected to beat the tough sprinters like him.

"I presume they're more advanced than me in form. I was expecting them to beat me in the sprint but at 200m (from the finish) I saw that I could go and it went really well."

While Ulissi was modest, Lampre-Merida's sports director Bruno Vicino believes the team still has lots to do to catch Gerrans with Evans and Greipel and Sky's Richie Porte also threatening to turn the stage race on its head.

"I'm a bit upset after Valls (Ferri) crashed, he was eighth in GC," Vicino said. "But when you have bad luck you also need some good luck and we got that with Ulissi."

Full race coverage online at adelaidenow.com.au

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