Australia's Drapac team rider Will Clarke is the new leader of the Tour d'Azerbaijan, part of world cycling's second tier.
The 29-year-old finished Thursday's 187km second stage as runner up to Primoz Roglic (Adria Mobil) in a sprint finish involving the pair.
Clarke had finished in 25th place on the opening stage, with the same time as the winner, and now takes a nine-second lead into stage three.
Strong winds again played havoc with the peloton, with six echelons forming at the 40km mark.
With 100km down, Clarke followed the move of Roglic on the second category two climb of the day and eventually the pair built a lead of just over two minutes on the chase group.
"We got a bit of a gap, gave full gas on the descent and then opened a bigger gap," Clarke explained.
"We worked well together."
Darren Lapthorne is the next-best Drapac rider in 11th place, 12 seconds in arrears of Clarke.
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