Intro:

Jens Debusschere wins stage two of the Tirreno-Adriatico in Italy on Thursday - while Adriano Malori retains the overall lead.

Script:

Jens Debusschere sprinted to victory on the second stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico on Thursday, edging out Peter Sagan and Sam Bennett, whilst Adriano Malori retains the overall lead.

There was an early break of seven riders over Stage two and they had built an advantage of six minutes after 43 kilometres (26.7 miles).

However, that lead soon started to fall as the peloton upped its pace.

Most of the leaders were caught with 31 km (19.3 miles) remaining, leaving just Edoardo Zardini, Carlos Quintero and Cristiano Salerno up front.

That trio was mopped up by the bunch with 14 km (8.7 miles) to go, on the last of two laps of the final circuit to the finish.

Belgian champion Debusschere clocked a time of 3 hours, 30 minutes and 18 seconds over the mainly flat, 153-kilometre (95-mile) route from Camaiore to Cascina to win a bunched sprint.

However, the third of three crashes throughout had a huge impact as the field was reduced to about a dozen sprinters - after Elia Viviani touched wheels with Mark Cavendish.

Cavendish managed to stay up but Viviani went down heavily.

He did eventually get up and crossed the line.

The results move Sagan into second place in the overall standings, with the same time as Malori, whilst Fabian Cancellara slips to third.

Friday's third stage is a 203-kilometre (126.1-mile) leg from Cascina to Arezzo.