ADELAIDE, Australia (AFP) - New Zealand time-trial champion Patrick Bevin swooped to take his first cycling World Tour stage and claim the overall lead in Australia's Tour Down Under on Wednesday.
Bevin, 27, riding for the CCC Team, capitalized on confusion in the peloton sparked by a mass crash inside the final kilometer of the 122-kilometre (70-mile) second stage to power home in the finish.
The Kiwi unleashed a sprint on the uphill 700m finishing straight to reel in Spain's Luis Leon Sanchez before holding off Australian star sprinter Caleb Ewan and Slovakia's former triple world champion Peter Sagan at the line.
The stage win gave Bevin a 10-second time bonus, lifting him into the overall lead of the race, five seconds ahead of Italy's Elia Viviani, who won Tuesday's stage one but could only manage seventh the next day.
Walscheid finished 23rd in Wednesday's stage through South Australia's famous Barossa Valley wine country in scorching temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).
********The stage win gave New Zealand's Patrick Bevin a 10-second time bonus, lifting him into the overall lead of the race.