Napolitano wins field sprint in Auby

Danilo Napolitano (Katusha) sprinted to his first victory of the 2010 season, outkicking his rivals at the conclusion of stage two at the Four Days of Dunkirk. The Italian bested Juan Jose Haedo (Team Saxo Bank) and Rafaâ Chtioui (Acqua & Sapone) in the field sprint deciding the 196.4km stage into Auby, the longest of the four-day event.

"Finally, I won," said Napolitano. "After four second places [this season] I have got the moment. My team did very good work into the last 200 metres, after [teammate Mikhaylo] Khalilov led me out for my sprint. My shape is good at this moment, so I hope to win something else."

Napolitano not only claimed stage honours, but also took over the race leadership from stage one winner Alex Rasmussen (Saxo Bank). Time bonuses put both Napolitano and Rasmussen equal on time, but stage placings gave the pink jersey to the 29-year-old Italian.

The day's racing was dominated by a three-man break comprised of Jean-Marc Bideau (Bretagne - Schuller), Stéphane Poulhies (Saur - Sojasun) and Cédric Pineau (Roubaix Lille Metropole) which escaped in the opening kilometres.

The French trio steadily built their lead and led the peloton by six minutes after covering 42.2km in the opening hour. For the next 70km the break's advantage was pegged at approximately six minutes while Pineau swept up the intermediate sprints and Bideau took top honours on the climbs.

The escapees' advantage finally began to decrease after three hours of racing and with 77km to go the trio's lead dipped to 5:30 in Givenchy under the impetus of Team Milram and Team Saxo Bank.

Ten kilometres later another minute had been erased from the break's lead and with 56k remaining to Auby the trio's advantage fell inside of three minutes.

As Bideau, Poulhies and Pineau began their ascent of the penultimate climb, the Mons-en-Pévèle with its summit 30km from the finish, Pineau was dropped from the break. Bideau led Poulhies over the KOM but their stint off the front would soon come to a conclusion. The peloton maintained its pursuit of the escapees and all were swept up with 21km remaining.

Sep Vanmarcke (Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator) took top honours at the final KOM with 14.1km to go but the peloton remained together through to the finish where Napolitano sped to victory and the leader's jersey.

For his efforts throughout the stage, Jean-Marc Bideau took over leadership of the mountains classification from overnight leader Vanmarcke while breakaway companion Cédric Pineau's time bonuses earned throughout the day vaulted him into third overall, one second behind Napolitano and Rasmussen.

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