Mark Cavendish takes Tour of Croatia lead by winning stage two

Mark Cavendish claimed his second sprint win of the season

Mark Cavendish took the overall lead of the Tour of Croatia by sprinting to victory on stage two in Split.

The Manxman was given a perfect lead-out by his Dimension Data team and capitalised by beating Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) into second place in a reverse of stage one's result.

Both Cavendish and Nizzolo are now on the same time in the general classification, but Cavendish will wear the race leader's red jersey on Thursday's third stage.

Cavendish's main lead-out rider, Mark Renshaw, finished third on the day and is now third overall, 10 seconds back.

Cavendish said: "I'm really happy to take the win today. Yesterday the team rode on the front from beginning and I just messed up a bit in the final; I just didn't have it yesterday really. So I was really glad the team kept the faith in me for today.

"Yesterday I over-geared a bit, but today I went in with a smaller gear and, after coming through the corners, it was more about the acceleration than the power."

Cavendish (in blue) crosses the line ahead of Giacomo Nizzolo

Cavendish is unlikely to keep the race lead given that Thursday's third stage is rolling and Friday's fourth stage ends with a summit finish. 

He added: "We have the leader's jersey now, which means it will be another long day on the front. The stage definitely isn't for me tomorrow, but Reinie [Reinardt Janse van Rensburg] can be up there, so as a team we will remain prominent in the race."

The win was Cavendish's third of the season, two of which have come in sprints. The other was his overall victory at the Tour of Qatar.

The six-day Tour of Croatia finishes on Sunday.

Stage two result

1 Mark Cavendish (GB) Dimension Data, 5:32:56

2 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, same time

3 Mark Renshaw (GB) Dimension Data, st

4 Michal Kolar (Svk) Tinkoff, st

5 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana, st

General classification

1 Mark Cavendish (GB) Dimension Data, 11:00:27

2 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, same time

3 Mark Renshaw (GB) Dimension Data, +10sec

4 Timothy Dupont (Bel) Verandas Willems, +12

5 Nicola Ruffoni (Ita) Bardiani-CSF, +13