Andre Greipel comes out on top in stage two of Giro d’Italia

Andre Greipel came out on top in a bunch sprint in stage two of the Giro d’Italia to take over the overall lead.

The German got the better of Roberto Ferrari and Jasper Stuyven in the 221-kilometre Olbia-Tortoli stage in a time of six hours five minutes and 18 seconds.

That sees Lotto Soudal rider Greipel take over the pink jersey with a four-second advantage from Lukas Postlberger of Bora-Hansgrohe and eight seconds clear of Orica-Scott’s Caleb Ewan.

Greipel said: “This is a really good one of course. It wasn’t an easy day with the head wind. It made a six hours race but it also played in our favour. Otherwise there would have been some attacks.

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“I’m really proud to win at the Giro again. I’m glad to win for my team-mates who worked for me since yesterday. This stage win and the pink jersey are for them and also for my mother.”

Final leading positions after Stage 2, (Olbia — Tortoli — 221km):

1 Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 6hrs 05mins 18secs, 2 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) UAE Team Emirates at same time, 3 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo, 4 Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-Step Floors, 5 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Dimension Data, 6 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Team LottoNl-Jumbo, 7 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) Dimension Data, 8 Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Team Sky, 9 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-Scott, 10 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates, 11 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale, 12 Davide Villella (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac, 13 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida, 14 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors, 15 Lukas Postlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe, 16 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale, 17 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Orica-Scott, 18 Alexander Edmondson (Aus) Orica-Scott, 19 Adam Yates (Gbr) Orica-Scott, 20 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team all at same time.

Selected others: 138 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky at 01min 23secs, 150 Hugh Carthy (Gbr) Cannondale-Drapac at 02mins 58secs, 151 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors at same time, 193 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe at 12mins 49secs.

Leading general classification after Stage 2:

1 Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 11hrs 18mins 39secs, 2 Lukas Postlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe at 04secs, 3 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-Scott at 08secs, 4 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) UAE Team Emirates at same time, 5 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo at 10secs, 6 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Gazprom — Rusvelo at 12secs, 7 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Dimension Data at 14secs, 8 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) Dimension Data at same time, 9 Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-Step Floors, 10 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Team LottoNl-Jumbo, 11 Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Team Sky, 12 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates, 13 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida, 14 Simone Ponzi (Ita) CCC Sprandi Polkowice, 15 Sacha Modolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates, 16 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team, 17 Adam Yates (Gbr) Orica-Scott, 18 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale, 19 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Sky, 20 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale all at same time

Selected others: 136 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky at 02mins 46secs, 153 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors at 04mins 21secs, 154 Hugh Carthy (Gbr) Cannondale-Drapac at same time, 188 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgroghe at 13mins 3secs.