Landa wins 2nd stage of Basque Country to take lead

BARANBIO, Spain — Mikel Landa of Spain took the lead of the Tour of Basque Country after winning its mountainous second stage Tuesday. Landa broke away from the leading pack along with Wilco Kelderman on the final uphill climb before pulling away from the Dutchman to claim the 174-kilometer ride from Markina to Baranbio. The Sky cyclist finished the stage in about four hours, 43 minutes to take the leader's jersey from Luis Sanchez. Alberto Contador crossed fifth in front of contenders Nairo Quintana, Joaquim Rodriguez and Fabio Aru. Wednesday's third stage is a mountainous 193-kilometer ride from Vitoria to Lesaka. The six-day race in northern Spain ends with a time trial around Eibar Saturday. Paris-Roubaix changes race time Organizers of the Paris-Roubaix cycling classic said Tuesday they have changed the times of this weekend's race to avoid last year's fiasco where riders passed through a railway crossing after the barriers had come down. Sunday's 'Hell of the North' is the third of the year's 'Monument' one-day classics and one of the most prestigious races on cycling's calendar. "We've decided to move the start time to avoid repeating what happened last year with a train passing at the same time as the peloton," said race director Thierry Gouvenou. The start time at Compiègne in northern France has now been set for 10:40 local time (0840 GMT) instead of 10:20 (0810) as initially planned. "But if weather conditions are difficult we'll start earlier at 10:30," he continued. "If they are favorable it will be 10:50. A decision will be made Saturday afternoon after a meeting of the teams' sporting directors." Last year's incident took place as the main peloton reached a level-crossing shortly at Waller crossing, 87km from the finish line. The lights had turned red by the time the main peloton approached, although the front end of the bunch made it through before the barriers were lowered, just before the approach of a high-speed TGV. The SNCF company made an official complaint to French prosecutors saying the action had risked a deadly tragedy.