Mikel Landa wins stage two to take Tour of the Basque Country lead

Mikel Landa claimed his first win for Team Sky

Team Sky’s Mikel Landa took the overall lead of the Tour of the Basque Country by climbing to victory on stage two.

The Basque rider attacked out of the peloton alongside Wilco Kelderman (LottoNL-Jumbo) with about 2km of the 2.7km ascent to the summit finish at Amurrio-Baranbio remaining and then pulled away in the final 50m to win by one second.

Fellow Team Sky rider Sergio Henao launched a late attack to finish five seconds down in third place, while Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) crossed the line 11 seconds back in fifth.

The top three on the day are also now the top three overall, separated by the same margins, after previous race leader Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) was dropped earlier in the final climb, which averaged 11.7 per cent in gradient and reached a maximum of more than 20 per cent.

Landa's win was his first since moving to Team Sky from Astana over the winter.

He told teamsky.com: "It's really nice. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I could win today. I'm really happy.

"The climb was very close to my house, just 15km away, and I know it very well. That really helped me get the win.

"Me and Sergio are first and third after the first mountain stage, which is very important and great motivation for us. We are going to fight for the overall victory."

The six-day race continues on Wednesday with a hilly, 193.5km third stage from Vitoria-Gasteiz to Lesaka.

Stage two result and new general classification

1 Mikel Landa (Esp) Team Sky, 4:43:17 (stage) / 8:38:38 (GC)

2 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, +1sec

3 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky, +5

4 Samuel Sanchez (Esp) BMC Racing, +9

5 Alberto Contador (Esp) Tinkoff, +11

6 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ.fr, +13

7 Rui Costa (Por) Lampre-Merida, +15

8 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, same time

9 Robert Gesink (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, st

10 Sebastien Reichenbach (Sui) FDJ.fr, st