Greipel denies Cavendish

Andre Greipel: Won the second stage just ahead of world champion Cavendish

André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) edged out new leader Mark Cavendish (Team Sky) in the sprint finish on stage two of the Ster ZLM Toer.

The second day of the race was a 167 kilometres route over some short, steep climbs around Schimmert but it all came back together for the finish after the remnants of the day's second breakaway were caught inside the final 5km.

And as the sprinters ramped up their preparations for the Tour de France it was Greipel who notched his 13th victory of the campaign as he just got the batter of the world champion, with Mark Renshaw in third.

Cavendish had the consolation of moving into the leader's yellow jersey - as well as topping the points classification - following his third place 24 hours earlier.

On the same time as Cavendish at the head of the GC going into the weekend are Renshaw, Greipel and stage one winner Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano).

The day had seen four riders - Nathan Haas (Garmin-Barracuda), Nikolas Maes (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Jim van den Berg and Bart van Haaren (both Koga Cycling Team) - move clear of the peloton in the early stages on wet roads in the Limburg hills.

They were able to open up an advantage of nearly four minutes but after 122km by the time they reached the Cauberg climb, made famous by the Amstel Gold Race, it was all starting to come back together.

The escape quartet were joined by Gijs Van Hoecke (Topsport VlaanderenMercator) and Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil-DCM) but as Team Sky put the hammer down on the front they always looked like being caught.

Van Hoecke was the last to be reeled in with 3km to go as the finish line approached and the fast men settled down to battle for the stage and overall spoils.

Saturday's 187km trek from Hotel Verviers to La Gileppe looks like having a key bearing on the standings as a short trip across the border into the Walloon region of Belgium throws up the longest and most challenging stage of the race.