On the day when John Degenkolb won another stage in the Vuelta a Espana, Giant-Shimano completely dominated the Tour of Alberta when Jonas Ahlstrand took the victory on stage 2 and Tom Dumoulin defended his leader's jersey. The pair celebrated their achievements but admitted that a fast start had made it a tough day.

Jonas Ahlstrand has taken his second stage win of the season on stage two of the Tour of Alberta, sprinting to the win after another day of the team controlling the race for Tom Dumoulin’s overall lead.

Ahlstrand also fought hard for the bonus seconds at the intermediates, and together with Dumoulin finishing in the front group this was enough for Dumoulin to keep his overall lead for another day here in Canada.

The stage was another up and down parcours, with little flat in the 145km route between Innisfail to Red Deer. The day;s break took nearly 100km to get away, and so Ahlstrand was on point to fight for the intermediate bonus seconds, defending Dumoulin’s overall lead.

Once the break pulled away the team kept their advantage to no more than one minute and in the final kilometres the race was all back together.

Before this though Ahlstrand had to overcome the final climb which he managed successfully before getting into position for the fast finish. He pulled through in the final few hundred metres to take his second win of the season, his first win since April.

“It was a really big fight for the break today with nothing getting away,” confirmed Ahlstrand after the stage. “It wasn’t until 40km to go until six guys got away so I went for the intermediate sprints and then when the break went we controlled the gap at a minute and no more.

“I stayed in the wheels on the final climb and made it over the top in the top ten. The run in was quick and I was able to follow the wheels and wait until 200m to go to launch my sprint.

“During the winter together with the team we really focused on building my strength and I have made a big step this year. There are still more opportunities for bunch sprints here so I hope that we can continue to challenge for stages as well as the overall.”

"The attacks were going on for 100kms today before a group went away. We managed to take control after this and bring them back late on to set up the sprint," Dumoulins said.

"The last hills weren't too hard and not the type where you can make splits. It was chaos in the final kilometres though so we couldn't find each other to position Jonas but he did well to get on Bos's wheel and win the stage.

"Overall it was another good day but a hard one for us."

Team coach Aike Visbeek added: “The fight for the break today was a long one so the guys had to be alert and focused to make sure that Tom was in a good position and also not to let any dangerous moves go.

“Jonas went for the intermediate sprints to protect Tom’s lead and this worked out well with him winning the first one. When the break went in the final 40km the team rode well to not let the gap get more than a minute. Jonas was strong at the end today, getting over the climb in a good position and rode intelligently in the final kilometres. He has trained well for this race and is really focused.

“It is nice to show that even when riding for the overall we can still challenge for stage wins here.”