Today was a 173km stage for the 198 riders who left Alcala de Guadaira heading for the finish in Marbella in what is seen as the next biggest race of the cycling calendar along with the Giro D'Italia after the Tour De France.
Javier Ramirez (Andalucia-CajaSur), Mickael Buffaz (Cofidis), Johnnie Walker (Footon-Servetto) and Michael Delage (Omega Pharma-Lotto) were allowed to go clear after four kilometres and they got to just under seven minutes clear before the peleton led by HTC Colombia who had leader Mark Cavendish in red, tried to chase them down.
Buffaz crashed, breaking his collarbone and was taken to hospital. The gap was down to 3.15 but Michael Delarge broke clear and built himself a 35 second lead ahead of the other three. He was eventually caught with 42km left.
With 13km left, it was only Ramirez and Walker who were away after the Peleton had taken care of Delage and Xacobeo-Galicia's Marcos Garcia.
Into Marbella and Cofidis were working hard at the front. Hondo went for the line but with Cavendish and Farrer blocked just before the initial sprint, Francais Des Joux rider Yauheni Hutarovich beat Cavendish with Tyler Farrar third.
Hutarovich gained a twenty second time bonus for winning the stage but Mark Cavendish (pictured below) keeps his red jersey.
Stage three is from Marbella to Malaga tomorrow and you can see the stage live on British Eurosport.
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German Robert Wagner (27) won today's Shimano "Suzuka" Road race at the Formula 1 circuit of Suzuka in Japan. The race took place under very warm conditions with high humidity. In the sprint of a first group Wagner outsprinted the Japanese riders Masamichi Yamamoto (2nd, Bridgestone Anchor) and Naoki Mukaigawa (3rd, Matrix). Kenny van Hummel (Ned), Robin Chaigneau (Ned), David Deroo (Fra) and Robert Wagner represented the Skil-Shimano team in this race.
"I am very happy that the victory remains 'at home' at Shimano in Japan", said winner Robert Wagner.
The Shimano "Suzuka" Road event is the biggest cycling event in Japan. During two days approximately 15.000 cycling participants take part in several different classes of this truly amazing cycling festival. This two-day cycling event keeps on growing year by year which illustrates that riding the bike keeps on getting more and more popular in Japan.
Picture copyright of Covsupport News Service. Credit CNS/KM