Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team sprinter Mark Cavendish remains in the Maglia Azzurra after the 232km Stage 2 of Tirreno-Adriatico. OPQS ensured he remained the GC leader by helping him get intermediate sprint bonus seconds earlier in the stage.
Cavendish was 5th in a very chaotic bunch sprint, after the peloton rode to organize their leadouts as they remained all together for more than 30km. The OPQS leadout was near the front with 1.5km to go, but the final kilometer was highly unorganized. Matthew Goss (Orica-GreenEDGE) won the stage with Maneul Belletti (Ag2R La Mondiale) taking 2nd and Gerald Ciolek (MTN-Qhubeka) placing 3rd.
Five OPQS riders remain at the top of the GC, with Cavendish ahead of Michal Kwiatkowski by 2 seconds. OPQS looks next to a 190km Stage 3 on Friday.
Cavendish: "We planned for a sprint today, we wanted a sprint today. We controlled it from the beginning — Martin Velits and Guillaume Van Keirsbulck controlled it. We got some help after the feed zone. It was quite chaotic in the final laps because it was raining, there were a lot of risks. All the general classification teams were trying to stay up there and it became very hectic. I was 30 riders back in the last kilometer but I still fought and had a chance with 300 meters to go, even less than that. I came to the right but the peloton swung on the right at the same moment. I just had to slam my brakes with 200 meters to go and so that was the end of the chance of winning. I feel we could have got a lot more out of that race than we actually did today, but we will try again tomorrow."