Boonen wins Tirreno-Adriatico second stage

TheQuickstep rider saw off German Paul Martens of Rabobank and ItalianDaniele Bennati of Liquigas in a sprint finish with his win making upfor the disappointment of a mechanical failure on stage one.

"I'mextremely satisfied. Throughout my career I've won at all latitudes, alittle all over the world, but I had never won in Italy," said Boonen.

"Ilike Italy a lot and I also like Italian races; with this success I'vemade up for a little something that was missing on my resume, and I'mreally happy."

Germany's Linus Gerdemann, who won the first stage, retained the overall lead. Boonen is second with the same time as Gerdemann.

"Weworked hard today to defend the blue jersey,“ said Milram directorChristian Henn, "We were able to accomplish this and of course arehappy to continue to lead."

A four-rider group dominated thestage with Alan Perez (Euskaltel), Mikhail Ignatiev (Katusha), DiegoCaccia (ISD-Neri) and Alan Marangoni (Colnago-CSF Inox) leading for along time with a large advantage over the field.

But thepeloton saw the stage as a sprint finish and set about bringing backthe escape, reeling them in four km from the finish.

Katusha'sIgnatiev gambled with a counterattack, but was quickly brought backwith the sprinters' teams in control and jockying for the mass sprintwon by Boonen.

Australia's Robbie McEwen (Katusha) was in the mix at the finish, rolling through in fourth place behind Bennati.

"Inthe sprint I was a little bit tired because we did the last climb veryfast. The positive aspect was that I felt good after yesterday's crashand my knee was also good," said the Katusha sprinter.

The third stage is a 159-km ride from San Miniato back to Monsummano Terme including two climbs.

Stage 2: 165km, Montecatini Terme.

1Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step, 2 Paul Martens (Ger) Rabobank, 3 DanieleBennati (Ita) Liquigas Doimo, 4 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Katusha, 5 JoseJoaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne, 6 Francesco Ginanni (Ita)Androni Giocattoli, 7 Sach, Modolo (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox, 8 DaniloHondo (Ger) Lampre-Farnese Vini.

General classification:

1Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Team Milram 7:50:18, 2 Tom Boonen (Bel) QuickStep, 3 Pablo Lastras Garcia (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:00:04, 4 PaulMartens (Ger) Rabobank, 5 Alan Perez Lezaun (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi,6 Matti Breschel (Den) Team Saxo Bank 0:00:06, 7 Daniele Bennati (Ita)Liquigas-Doimo, 8 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Team Milram 0:00:08.