ROME — Spaniard Mikel Landa took command of the Giro del Trentino Wednesday as he won the epic 220km second stage from Arco to Anras in Austria.
Favorite for overall victory Vincenzo Nibali, a twice former winner of the event, surprisingly struggled on the final ascent and only managed to finish the day 21st, more than 30-seconds back.
His Astana teammate Jakob Fuglsang is second overall at 10sec after finishing fifth on the stage, 13sec behind Landa.
The Team Sky leader had attacked solo on the final climb to the finish in Anras after the day's breakaway had been reeled in 15km from the end.
Landa started to tire in the final kilometer but managed to hold off Russian Serguei Firsanov, who finished second at 4sec.
Italian veteran Damiano Cunego, a three time Trentino winner, was third at 13sec in a small group of chasers.
Nibali, who like Landa is preparing for May's Giro d'Italia, finally lost 32sec as even another teammate in Michele Scarponi finished ahead of him.
Other potential overall contenders, Romain Bardet and Domenico Pozzovivo of the AG2R team, came in seventh and eighth respectively to sit fifth and sixth on the overall standings.
Thursday's mountainous third stage covers 204.5km from Sillian to Mezzolombardo but the line comes 15km after the final ascent.
Team Sky withdraws Henao
Colombian rider Sergio Henao has been withdrawn from racing by Team Sky after concerns about his blood data readings re-surfaced, the British outfit said Wednesday.
A statement on Team Sky's website said Henao had not failed an anti-doping test but had been contacted by the UCI and Cycling Anti-Doping Foundation (CADF) with regards to readings between August 2011 and June 2015.
"It is our hope that this can be looked at and resolved quickly by all the relevant authorities so Sergio can start racing again soon," a statement said.
Henao, 28, is a specialist climber who signed with Team Sky in 2012 and finished in the top-10 in his first Grand Tour, the 2012 Giro d'Italia. — Agencies
