The second stage of the women's Santos Tour Down Under, with the Mount Lofty climb 10km before the finish, was a stage that GC contenders were always on the lookout for. By itself, it was neither hard nor long enough to pull off a significant gap, but three-time consecutive winner Amanda Spratt knew full well that every chance mattered in this three-day Tour.

The first stage was for the sprinters, with the 90-km second stage and the 93.2-km Corkscrew climb on the third stage deciding the overall battle. After struggling for the past two years with iliac artery endometrial fibrosis and its recovery, Spratt did not wait for the final stage to try to win her fourth title with her new team, Trek-Segafredo.

"I told the girls I felt great today and said, 'After that sprint, I want full acceleration. ' As soon as we got to the steep grade [of Mount Lofty], I knew I wanted to go up there."

On the Mount Lofty climb, Spratt's teammate Brodie Chapman, wearing the Australian champion's jersey, led the pack into the final turn and set a furious pace. Then Spratt unleashed a stinging punch and no one could keep up. But just as the crowd lining the barriers tensed to watch the first racers round the final bend, the chase was upon them.

"There were a few riders left in the chase group and they organized quickly. I believed all the way to the finish but it was 500 meters too long for me," Spratt said.

Alex Manley (Jayco Alura) won the stage and wore the race leader's ochre jersey, with Georgia Williams (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) in second and Nina Buisman (Human Powered Health) in third. Spratt finished in 10th place and tied with Manley for the fastest time. However, the bonus seconds from stages 1 and 2 were added to Spratt's total, putting him in 5th place overall.

"If anything, I gained a lot of confidence from how I raced today, and I was able to ride according to plan," Spratt said. "I think tomorrow is going to be a much harder climb and we need to make sure we leave absolutely nothing behind." We're going to give it our all and I'm still dreaming of the ochre jersey.

The Corkscrew climb at the 85.7km mark of the 93.2km race is the obvious difference-maker on stage 3, but with a Women's World Tour victory at stake, anything can happen.

"Tomorrow we hope to make the difference on the Corkscrew. That would be the ideal scenario, but we have quite a bit of distance before that, so we'll see what happens," Spratt said. 'I think we can win this race.'