Attack gives Evans maiden win

A NAILBITING uphill battle between AMR Racing’s Alexander Evans and Team Ultra Racing’s Ian Talbot capped a thrilling Stage 2 of the Tour of Tasmania yesterday.

Evans, 20, attacked Talbot with 1km to go outside of Poatina on the final climb of the treacherous stage to take his maiden National Road Series stage win and move into the leader’s yellow jersey with two stages remaining.

The 16km climb helped the peloton catch an earlier four-rider breakaway, giving Evans and his team the chance they needed to get up the hill with Talbot and break away from the main bunch.

“I just tried to stay out of trouble for most of the race, with pretty bad cross winds that caught me out in a few places,” he said.

“Coming into the climb, the first kilometre or so was a pretty low tempo, so I put in an attack at the halfway point and it stuck.

“There was only one bloke left out the front and I caught him with 1km to go.”

When asked how this win stacked up, Evans said: “This is my first win of any- thing really, it’s not a bad one to have a big win on. This is my first win ever, even at a club level. My team did an amazing job getting me up the front and we just need to hold on to the yellow now.”

Peter Livingstone, of Mobius Future Racing, dropped from first in the general classification after a broken chain forced a two-bike swap with 8km to go.

Livingstone still retains the king of the mountain and sprinter’s jerseys.

The action continues today with an Ulverstone to Penguin 108.9km stage over the famous Gunns Plains.