Kreuziger in control at Sardegna

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Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas-Doimo) won the second stage of the Giro di Sardegna on Wednesday, outsprinting an elite selection of riders at the finish atop the first category Monte Ortobene. The 23-year-old Czech overpowered Chris Horner (Team Radioshack) and Thomas Voeckler (BBox Bouygues Telecom) after 12km of climbing to the line in Nuoro.

The victory, Liquigas - Doimo's seventh of the season, also put Kreuziger into the leader's jersey where he holds a four-second advantage over Horner and a six-second lead on Voeckler.

"I am very pleased to have broken the ice [with a victory] in my debut", said Kreuziger. "I was feeling good this morning and the uphill finish appealed to me. The early break could have ruined our plans, but when it was absorbed 15 kilometres from the finish we prepared for the final climb.

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"I needed to climb steadily and smoothly and [teammates Vincenzo] Nibali and [Robert] Kiserlovski were wonderful."

Kreuziger is optimistic about his chances of defending his narrow lead over the next three stages. "The climbing in the next stage plays to my favour, even if we must pay attention to the time bonuses since the [time] gaps are not large.

"My condition is improving. The work on Tenerife with directeur sportif Paolo Slongo, to whom I dedicate this victory on his birthday, is showing encouraging results."

Despite narrowly missing out on the victory, American Chris Horner is also encouraged with his form. "I feel good, very good," said Horner. "Today Kreuziger was stronger. The climb was long but not so steep, not steep enough for a real climber like me. We had the wind in the back. It was more a finish for riders with the real power in the legs."

Earlier in the stage, the break of the day formed after 34 kilometers of the racing as ten riders went clear including Valerio Agnoli (Liquigas-Doimo), Lorenzo Bernucci (Lampre-Farnese Vini), Serguei Klimov (Team Katusha), Markel Irizar Aranburu (Team Radioshack), Simon Clarke (ISD - Neri), Alan Marangoni and Marcello Pavarin (Colnago - CSF Inox), Matteo Montaguti (De Rosa - Stac Plastic), Alessandro Maserati (Ceramica Flaminia) and Konstantin Volik (Amore & Vita - Conad )

The escapees reached a maximum advantage of 3:05 over the peloton after 73 kilometres of racing, but they were absorbed by the peloton 15 kilometres from the finish.

As the final, 12km climb began Liquigas-Doimo and Lampre-Farnese Vini upped the pace at the head of the peloton ultimately resulting in a selection of 12 riders going clear four kilometres from the finish. Kreuziger soon finished off the work done by his Liquigas teammates, powering to a stage win as well as the leader's jersey at the finish in Nuoro.

Lampre's Francesco Gavazzi, the overnight race leader, could not match the Czech's pace and finished 26 seconds behind and fell to 11th overall on general classification.

On Thursday the peloton faces the longest stage of the Giro di Sardegna, a 206km trek between Nuoro and Oristano. The riders will tackle one second category climb 47 kilometres into the stage as well as contest three intermediate sprints.