Thursday 8 March 2018 17:50, UK
Marcel Kittel claimed a belated first win of 2018 when he came out on top in a bunch sprint on stage two of Tirreno-Adriatico.
The German, now riding for Katusha, got the better of world champion Peter Sagan at the end of the 167km run from Camaiore to Follonica.
Chris Froome finished safely in the peloton and, with a couple of top-10 riders meeting misfortune, moved up to ninth.
Team Sky hold all the places from sixth to 10th after finishing third in the opening team time-trial.
There is also a new race leader, with Patrick Bevin assuming the blue jersey from BMC Racing team-mate Damiano Caruso.
New Zealander Bevin takes the lead on countback after finishing fifth in the sprint, just behind Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) and Team Sky's Michal Kwiatkowski.
Thursday's stage started one rider light, with Mark Cavendish having been eliminated on stage one after failing to make the time limit following a crash.
Cavendish suffered a broken rib as well as facial injuries in his Wednesday tumble, which came on his comeback ride after a concussion he sustained at the Abu Dhabi Tour last month.
A number of riders were held up by a crash seven kilometres from the end of the flat stage and, although most of the pre-race favourites came through it unscathed, Britain's Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) was delayed and lost more than a minute.
