The New Zealander won the stage on a windy day after a sprint in Contres at the end of a 203.km stage. Seconds was Grega Bole with Jeremy Lelland in third. Ireland's Nick Roche was sixth with David Millar 11thm Geraint Thomas 75th and Steve Cummings 131st.
Lars Boom who won yersterday's prologue, retained his lead with Brit David Millar moving up to third in the general classification.
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According to Valerio Piva from HTC Colombia, Mark Cavendish will use the Tirreno Adriatico which starts on Wednesday in Livorno, Italy as preparation for the Milan-San Remo race.
Piva said: "There's no way he'll be going in too deep. You don't want to burn yourself out in Tirreno-Adriatico and not have enough strength left to do well in Milan-San Remo. But whenever there's a bunch sprint, that's always a good stage for Mark."