Tom Boonen (Quick Step) won the second stage of Tirreno-Adriatico in the spa town of Montecatini Terme in a bunch sprint. The Belgian champion beat German Paul Martens (Rabobank) and Italian Daniele Bennati (Liquigas-Doimo) into second and third. Australian Robbie McEwen (Katusha) showed that he is recovering from his recent knee problems with fourth place.
The stage was once again dominated by a breakaway of four riders who were only reeled in with a few kilometres to go. The group, consisting of Mikhail Ignatiev (Katusha), Alan Marangoni (Colnago-CSF Inox), Alan Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Diego Caccia (ISD-Neri) held a lead of over 4 minutes with 40km remaining. Work from the Garmin-Transitions team, who were later joined by Team Sky, Liquigas-Doimo and Saxo Bank brought the lead down steadily.
With Team Sky and Liquigas-Doimo in control of the peloton the lead was down to just 1’28” with 15km to go, and it looked inevitable that the foursome would be caught.
On the final finishing circuit Ignatiev tried to go it alone as the catch looked inevitable, but the other three refused to let him go. The Russian tried again as they were caught but he was not allowed any freedom from the motivated peloton.
Once again Sky took the front with the Cervélo TestTeam and la Française des Jeux all working for their sprinters Edvald Boasson Hagen, Thor Hushovd and Yauheni Hutarovich respectively. Into the final kilometre though, the Liquigas-Doimo team took over on behalf of Bennati, but Boonen, Hushovd and McEwen were all lurking behind.
In the final sprint Boonen and Martens managed to come around to take the first two places, with Bennati getting the compensation of third after his team’s hard work.
Result stage 2
1. Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step
2. Paul Martens (Ger) Rabobank
3. Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo
4. Robbie McEwen (Aus) Katusha
5. Jose Rosas Gil (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne
6. Francesco Ginanni (Ita) Androni Giocattoli – Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni
7. Sacha Modolo (Ita) Colnago-CSF Inox
8. Danilo Hondo (Ger) Lampre-Farnese Vini
Standings after stage 2
1. Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Team Milram