Oscar Freire won the second stage from Allariz to Santiago de Compostela after a late pile up brought down the overnight race leader Daniele Bennati.

The time bonus won by Freire means the Rabobank rider is now the new golden jersey.

Freire, wearing the red points jersey after his second place finish in Vigo on Saturday, won the 150km undulating stage convincingly, powering past Cofidis's Leonardo Duque with only world champion Paolo Bettini able to hold his wheel.

Bettini (QuickStep) took second, Duque third, with Milram veteran Erik Zabel and Gerolsteiner's Davide Rebellin making up the top five. There was no sign of Belgian powerhouse Tom Boonen (QuickStep) or Italian speed king Alessandro Petacchi (Milram), both of whom finished safely but did not manage to compete in the final sprint.

"It's a great feeling to have won something so important so early in the race," Freire said.

It was rotten luck for Lampre's Bennati, who had spoken of his desire to keep the overall lead until Tuesday's first mountain finish at the Lagos de Covadonga.

With Alessandro Petacchi's Milram train leading the peloton through the narrow streets of the UNESCO World Heritage City at top speed, a sudden touching of wheels brought down a large segment of riders towards the front of the bunch.

Bennati, who was not injured in the fall, was seen remonstrating with two Euskaltel riders, while local Galician favourite Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d'Epargne) was also involved in the accident.

Although Bennati lost no actual time in the fall – which occurred in the last two kilometres of the race – he missed out on the time bonus which would have kept him in gold. He finished the stage in 186th position.

The stage was led mainly by three Spanish riders - Gustavo Dominguez (Karpin Galicia), Raul Garcia de Mateos (Relax Gam) and Manuel Vazquez (Andalucia Cajasur) - who broke clear just two kilometres after the start.

The escapees were reeled in by the peloton with 20 kilometres left to ride before a succession of flawed breakaways were made by a cluster of individual riders chancing their luck.

Belgian Philippe Gilbert (Francaise des Jeux) made the most of the post-pile up mayhem to jump off the front of the streamlined peloton, but he was swallowed up with just 200 metres to spare by those jostling sprinters who were lucky enough to be unaffected by the chaos.

Result:

1. Oscar Freire (Spain / Rabobank) 3 hrs 31mins 03secs

2. Paolo Bettini (Italy / Quick-Step) same time

3. Leonardo Duque (Colombia / Cofidis)

4. Erik Zabel (Germany / Milram)

5. Davide Rebellin (Italy / Gerolsteiner)

6. Rene Mandri (Estonia / AG2R)

7. Aurelien Clerc (Switzerland / Bouygues Telecom)

8. Luis Leon Sanchez (Spain / Caisse d'Epargne)

9. Renaud Dion (France / AG2R)

10. Lorenzo Bernucci (Italy / T-Mobile)

11. Angelo Furlan (Italy / Credit Agricole)

12. David Lopez (Spain / Caisse d'Epargne)

13. Denis Menchov (Russia / Rabobank)

14. Alan Perez (Spain / Euskaltel)

15. Philippe Gilbert (Belgium / Francaise des Jeux)

16. Roman Kreuziger (Czech Republic / Liquigas)

17. Ezequiel Mosquera (Spain / Karpin)

18. Carlos Barredo (Spain / Quick-Step)

19. Carlos Sastre (Spain / Team CSC)

20. Addy Engels (Netherlands / Quick-Step)

Eurosport