Intro:

Rafaa Chtioui of the Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team wins stage two of the 2015 Tour of Gabon (La Tropicale Amissa Bongo) on Tuesday (17th February).

Script:

Stage two of 'La Tropicale Amissa Bongo' took the riders on a 170-kilometre ride in typically humid and hot conditions. Tunisian Rafaa Chtioui made it two stage wins from two as the Skydive Dubai Pro Cycling Team rider maintained his impressive start.

It wasn't until the final 20-kilometres that a four-man breakway group increased the pace and lost the peloton.

Rwanda's Janviar Hadi, South Africa's Clint Hendricks and Hervé Herman Yemeli Pichele of Cameroon joined Chtioui at the head of the pack on the hunt for the stage win.

A dramatic attack by Algerian Azzedine Lagab saw the the riders bunched again in the closings stages, with the peloton on their tails once more.

In a thrilling fight to the wire Chtioui held off Team Europcar's Yohann Gene to take the win.

Tesfom Okubamariam finished third on the day.

The victory means that Chtioui remains the man to catch in the overall standings - and hangs on to the coveted yellow leader's jersey for another day.