Jasper Philipsen wins opening sprint stage at Tirreno Adriatico

Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) sprinted to stage two victory in Follonica beating Merlier and Zingle

Belgian Philipsen battled to stay at the front on a very technical run-in with 300m to go. He opened up his sprint early and easily won the stage aghead of Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Axel Zingle (Cofidis).

Philipsen is looking to beat last season's incredible tally of 19 victories and the Tour de France green jersey. 

Philipsen is focused on a strong showing in the Spring Classics, he finished second at Paris-Roubaix last year. 

Soudal Quick-Step and Uno-X led through the final tight with 300m to go, but Philipsen started his sprint early and sat up and celebrate before crossing the line. Behind it was close finish between sprint ace Merlierm 

Juan Ayuso continues to lead the race after winning the opening indicvidual time trial on stage one. Race favorite Jonas Vingegaard sits 22s behind overall.

Stafe 3 to Gualdo Tadino is a long say at 225 km around the hills of Siena, with a final uphill sprint which won't suit all of the sprinters. The final straight has a slight uphill gradient of around 4%.

HIGHLIGHTS: 2024 Tirreno - Adriatico Stage 2

2024 Tirreno - Adriatico Stage 2 Top 10

1. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck, in 4-32-07
2. Tim Merlier (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step
3. Axel Zingle (Fra) Cofidis
4. Amaury Capiot (Bel) Arkéa - B&B Hotels
5. Casper van Uden (Ned) dsm-firmenich PostNL
6. Søren Wærenskjold (Nor) Uno-X
7. Giovanni Lonardi (Ita) Polti Kometa
8. Ethan Vernon (GBr) Israel-Premier Tech
9. Jonathan Milan (Ita) Lidl-Trek
10. Fabian Lienhard (Sui) Groupama-FDJ, all at same time

2024 Tirreno - Adriatico GC after Stage 2

1. Juan Ayuso (Esp) UAE Team Emirates, in 4-43-31
2. Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers, +1sec
3. Jonathan Milan (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +12secs
4. Ethan Vernon (GBr) Israel-Premier Tech, +13secs
5. Søren Wærenskjold (Nor) Uno-X, +15secs
6. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain-Victorious, +17secs
8. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +22secs
9. Roman Grégoire (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, "
10. Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Q36.5 Pro Cycling, +23secs