Italy's Raffaele Illiano prevailed in a sprint finish to take the second stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico race from Civitavecchia to Gubbio.

The Diquigiovanni rider beat compatriot Enrico Gasparotto and team mate Niklas Axelsson of Norway after being part of a six-rider attack that formed 20km from the finish of the 203km stage.

Gasparotto is the new race leader with Axelsson second at two seconds back and Germany's Linus Gerdemann six seconds down.

Illiano was in tears after taking the most important victory of his seven-year professional career.

"I'm incredibly happy. I've been waiting for this for a long time. I've only ever won minor races but now I think I've earned my place in the professional peloton," he said.

"I crashed during the first stage and I've got five stitches in my right knee but I felt good and so went with the late attack."

Team Barloworld rider Gasparotto was disappointed not to win the sprint but added the race leader's blue jersey to the pink jersey he won in the prologue of the Giro d'Italia last year and the red, white and green Italian national champion's jersey he won in 2005.

"I was suffering with cramp in the final kilometres of the stage and that definitely affected my chances in the sprint. However I'm happy to have the leader's jersey and will try and keep it for as long as possible," Gasparotto said.

Friday's 195km third stage is from Gubbio to Montelupone.

STAGE ONE

Spain's Oscar Freire of the Rabobank team won the opening stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico.

The three-times world road race champion beat Italy's Alessandro Petacchi and Spain's Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil in a sprint finish on the first day of the week-long race.

Australia's Robbie McEwen won the same stage in last year's race with a late attack in the chicane 300 metres from the finish.

McEwen was first through the two corners again this year but did not manage to open up a gap and Freire accelerated past him to win.

"I felt good during the stage. I knew it was going to be difficult, especially at the end, but I had a good position going into the last corner," said the 32-year-old Freire, who won the race in 2005.

"Last year McEwen surprised us and got a gap but this time we were ready for him and the sprint went perfectly for me."

"I went a bit early because McEwen was still out front but I knew I had to take a risk if I wanted to win. Petacchi was close but I just had enough speed to get to the line first."

The 161-km stage was characterised by a long breakaway by Russia's Mikhail Ignatiev and Ukraine's Yuriy Krivtsov.

They opened up a seven-minute lead but were caught four kms from the finish after a determined chase by the Milram, Diquigiovanni and High Road teams.

Freire, who has now won eight stages of the Tirreno-Adriatico during his 11-year career, will wear the race leader's blue jersey during Thursday's 203-km second stage from Civitavecchia to Gubbio.

Reuters