Megan Armitage is impressing at the Santos Tour Down Under; the Irish rider constantly on the attack on the opening two stages. Today she claimed the most aggressive rider award on the 85.7km stage 2 from McLaren Vale to Echunga.
Towards the end of today's race Armitage went on the attack with just over 20km to go. She hit it hard on an incline and then pulled out a very sizeable gap. The Irish rider's lead peaked at 50 seconds with just over 14km to go.
Armitage (25) then continued to ride hard alone out front, with WorldTour team BikeExchange-Jayco responding. Its rider Amanda Spratt - the Australian champion from two years ago and road race bronze medal winner at the Worlds in 2019 - hit the front in a bid to close the gap to the Offaly woman leading solo.
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That injection of pace began to reel Armitage back in, though it also split the race. And when the Irishwoman was eventually caught, it was a breakaway that got up to her first, rather than the peloton.
Armitage, who won the Hawthorn Criterium in Australia last week, was caught by the chasers with just over 7km to go. Her lead group was then recaptured and the finish came down to a sprint from a bunch of 50 riders, from 80 starters.
The stage was won by Tokyo Olympian Maeve Plouffe (ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast) from Ruby Roseman-Gannon (BikeExchange-Jayco) and Australian road race Nicole Frain (Roxsolt Liv SRAM).
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Armitage is competing in Australia in the colours of her Rupelcleaning trade team. She is effectively a solo rider within Team Westpac, a composite group brought together for the four-stage event. She was 38th today, on the same time as the winner.
Her performance was impressive considering the quality of the field and testing terrain, including a number of climbs and gravel sections that split the race to pieces several times before regrouping took place.
One of Ireland's track riders at the Olympics, Australian-born Shannon McCurley, is also in action at the Tour de Under with the Suburban Knights team. Unfortunately she was caught up in a crash today and finished 73rd just over 13 minutes down.
On Sunday's opening stage - 85.4km from Tanunda to Williamstown - Armitage joined several attacks but was recaptured each time. She was in what remained of the peloton coming to the finish, though was just caught on the wrong side of a late split.
Armitage finished 28th in a large group at 29 seconds while McCurley was 57th at 1:28. After two stages - and with bonus seconds added for hot spot sprints and finishing sprints - Armitage is 33rd at 52 seconds. McCurley is 67th at 15:15.
Tomorrow's stage 3 takes the riders 86.9km, starting and finishing in Lobethal. It features more unpaved sectors and also a number of climbs, including one topped out just 2km from the finish. The race concludes with a stage 4 criterium.
