French sprinter Nacer Bouhanni took victory on stage two of the Tour de Yorkshire in Harrogate as a second consecutive second place put Australian Caleb Ewan in the leader's blue jersey.
Cofidis' Bouhanni finished comfortably clear of Orica-Scott's Ewan in an untidy sprint that came after a series of attacks knocked the sprint trains off their stride towards the end of the 122.5km stage from Tadcaster.
Direct-Energie's Frenchman Jonathan Hivert came home third just ahead of stage one winner Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen of LottoNL-Jumbo.
With time bonuses applied, Ewan leads overall by two seconds from Bouhanni and Groenewegen, with Bike Channel Canyon's Chris Opie fourth at eight seconds alongside Hivert.
Ewan, who knows he will surrender the blue jersey on Sunday's brutal concluding stage from Bradford to Fox Valley, said it was a "big honour" to lead the race but indicated he would gladly have swapped his blue jersey for a stage win.
"It's a completely different feeling," he said. "It's satisfying obviously wearing the leader's jersey but it's a different kind of feeling to crossing the line first."
The roads from Tadcaster had one again been lined by huge crowds, treated to two races in one day as the women battled it out in the morning with Lizzie Deignan victorious.
"It's amazing," Ewan said. "Even (on Friday) during business hours, when the race was on, the crowd was enormous.
"(On Saturday), at the weekend, it seems everyone came out to watch the race. I love racing here because the crowds are probably the best in the world."
Share
