Philippe Gilbert (BMC) decided to test his legs for the classics in yesterday's flat Tirreno-Adriatico stage when he made an attack with 13km to go. The former world champion was happy with his feeling and gained confidence from his ill-fated attempt.

BMC Racing Team's Philippe Gilbert tried an attack in the final 10 kilometers and teammate Danilo Wyss gave it a go in the bunch sprintThursday at Tirreno-Adriatico. Stretching 173 kilometers rom San Vincenzo to Cascina, the course included two laps of a 20-km finishing circuit.

Marco Canola (Bardiani-CSF), David De La Cruz (NetApp-Endura), Alex Dowsett (Movistar Team), Davide Malacarne (Team Europcar) and Daniel Teklehaymanot (MTN-Qhubeka) formed a breakaway in the first three kilometers and built a more than four-minute lead. As the sprinters' teams led the chase, Dowsett remained the lone leader until he was brought back inside of seven kilometers to go.

After a crash with 13 km left disrupted the chase of Dowsett, Gilbert said he sensed it was an opportunity to attack.

"I saw that some sprinters were not there, so I was thinking since it was a moment where it wasn not well organized, maybe it would be a moment to try something," he said. "I attacked there and brought some guys with me, but they took the wrong way on a roundabout, so it was not easy to organize. But I felt good and this gave me confidence."

Matteo Pelucchi (IAM Cycling) was the surprise stage winner, beating out Arnaud Demare (FDJ.fr) and André Greipel (Lotto Belisol). Wyss was best for the BMC Racing Team, in 12th place. In the overall standings, Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) retained the race lead.

"I was at the front, so I tried to go on my own," Wyss said. "But I had already done some work for Cadel and Phil. It was a really crazy sprint, with a lot of headwind. I couldn't really sprint. I was always blocked on the right and the left."

You can read our preview of stage 3 here.