The crash, which brought down race favourite Simon Gerrans along with Orica-GreenEDGE teammate Daryl Impey and others, caused a split in the peloton as all but a handful of riders were forced to back off.
McCarthy was one of the fortunate few who was placed ahead of the crash, but there was no luck in his victory, the Australian holding off a surging Diego Ulissi to take his first stage win at WorldTour level.
The breakaway got some early rewards, as the day's only categorised climb came only around 10km into the stage, with Tinkoff's Manuele Boaro outsmarting Thomas de Gendt, Yoann Offredo and Patrick Lane to take the honours, and ultimately control of the King of the Mountains jersey.
The break, its aim already accomplished, slipped back into the peloton before the first intermediate sprint, where the well-drilled Orica-GreenEDGE team worked perfectly, getting Simon Gerrans the win, and more significantly a three-second GC time bonus, ahead of teammate Caleb Ewan, who had his eyes on the sprint points.
Adam Hansen then rolled the dice, making a solo breakaway that quickly got him two minutes clear. Even a puncture couldn't reel him back in, and he claimed the second intermediate sprint, with Gerrans again launched to the head of the peloton ahead of Ewan to claim two more bonus seconds.
As with yesterday, it was Orica-GreenEDGE at the head of the peloton for most of the race, controlling the gap to Hansen and ultimately catching him inside the final of six circuits around Stirling.
The pace kept high, and several riders dropped off the back of the peloton as several teams shared duties at the front. As the race came to an end, Peter Kennaugh attacked from 600m, triggering several riders into launching their final assaults.
It was in this surge that two Astana riders clipped the front wheel of Daryl Impey, bring down with them Gerrans, who was all set to be launched by his teammate. Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (DDD) was caught up in it along with Sky's Geraint Thomas, as was Drapac rider Adam Phelan. The 3km rule will protect the times of the fallers, but it remains to be seen whether Gerrans will be affected physically on tomorrow's slopes.
Tinkoff's train at the front was not hampered, however, showing the value of being in a good position as early as possible. Their leadout of Jay McCarthy was just enough to keep Lampre-Merida's Diego Ulissi at bay, McCarthy holding off by a quarter of a wheel to take the stage win, and with it the ochre jersey going into stage 3.
John Veage
Stage winner Jay McCarthy (TNK):
"I’ve done this stage for a few years now so we certainly had a plan. The team supported me fully and I’m also given a chance to go for GC this week as well. It’s great to come out and get the victory today but the week's not finished, I hope to recover for tomorrow."
Stage results
1. Jay McCarthy (TNK) 3:26:40
2. Diego Ulissi (LAM) + :00
3. Rohan Dennis (BMC) + :00
General Classification
1. Jay McCarthy (TNK) 6:50:43
2. Diego Ulissi (LAM) + :04
3. Simon Gerrans (OGE) + :05
4. Rohan Dennis (BMC) + :06
5. Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (DDD) + :09
6. Patrick Bevin (CPT) + :10
7. Enrico Battaglin (TLJ) + :10
8. Juan Jose Lobato del Valle (MOV) + :10
9. Anthony Roux (FDJ) + :10
10. Tobias Ludvigsson (TGA) + :10
King of the Mountains Classification
1. Manuele Boaro (TNK) 10
2. Sean Lake (UNA) 10
3. Patrick Lane (UNA) 6
Sprint Classification
1. Caleb Ewan (OGE) 20
2. Jay McCarthy (TNK) 15
3. Diego Ulissi (LAM) 14
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