Australian rider Christopher Sutton won the second stage of the Tour of Spain on Sunday, a 174-kilometre ride from La Nucia to record his first individual win in a stage of a major tour.
Italy's Daniele Bennati took the overall leader's red jersey off overnight wearer and Leopard-Trek team-mate Jakob Fuglsang of Denmark as the Italian finished sixth in the stage.
However, Sutton's compatriot Matthew Goss of the HTC team, the winner of the 2011 Milan-San Remo Classic, became the first rider to abandon this year's Tour, leaving the race with 197 participants.
Sutton - who had won a team time-trial stage in the 2008 Tour of Italy - set up his win when he along with Spaniard Vicente Reynes took advantage of a slowing of the pace in the final kilometre, gaining crucial metres on the peloton.
Sutton came in ahead of Vicente Reynes while Germany's sprint specialist Marcel Kittel - who won four stages of the recent Tour of Poland - was third while British star Mark Cavendish failed to even get in a position to contest the decisive sprint.
The stage winner said he had fulfilled a dream.
"To win a stage in a major Tour, is a dream become reality," said the 26-year-old.
"All the team really helped me in the final part. I felt really good today.
"In the final kilometre, I did several zigzags, then I saw Reynes pass in front. I said to myself that his was the wheel to tag onto and that was the right call."
The stage had been enlivened by a four man breakaway with Paul Martens, Steve Houanard, Adam Hansen and Jesus Robredo looking good to fight out the stage until the peloton managed to reel them in.
Monday's third stage, a 163-kilometre run from Petrer and Totana, is one of the shortest if this year's race and with just one category three mountain pass it is conducive to a bunch finish.
Source: AFP Global Edition
