Wednesday 18 February 2015 14:16, UK
Fabian Cancellara took the lead of the Tour of Oman by clinching victory in a reduced-bunch sprint on stage two.
Cancellara, 33, beat Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde into second place and BMC Racing’s Greg van Avermaet into third in Al Bustan to claim his first win of the season.
The peloton broke apart over two late climbs and a group of just 18 riders arrived at the finish.
With bonus seconds taken into account, Cancellara now moves to the top of the general classification and opens up a four-second lead over Valverde, with Patrick Konrad five seconds further back in third.
Cancellara said: "I am really super-happy and satisfied about this win. It’s a deserved win and gives a lot of confidence for us. Today is the benefit of everyone doing his job, and that allows me to stay calm during the race. Now we got the win and that is really amazing.”
Joaquim Rodriguez, who was one of the pre-race favourites for overall victory, finished 55 seconds down in 47th place and is now all but out of contention.
Stage two result
1 Fabian Cancellara (Sui) Trek Factory Racing, 4:36:46
2 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, same time
3 Greg van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing, st
4 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Lampre-Merida, st
5 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo, st
6 Julian Arredondo (Col) Trek Factory Racing, st
7 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo, st
8 Daniel Moreno (Esp) Katusha, st
9 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana, st
10 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, st
General classification
1 Fabian Cancellara (Sui) Trek Factory Racing, 8:22:14
2 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, +4secs
3 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Argon 18, +5
4 Greg van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing, +6
5 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo, +10
6 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing, same time
7 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana, st
8 Daniel Moreno (Esp) Katusha, st
9 Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing, st
10 Julian Arredondo (Col) Trek Factory Racing, st
