Mark Cavendish remains the race leader after the group finish at 166km Tirreno-Adriatico Stage 2 on Thursday. Cavendish was in about 15th position in the final kilometer, but OPQS was boxed in, in the middle of the peloton, approaching the final meters.

Matteo Pelucchi (IAM Cycling) won the stage, launching off the wheel of Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) in the final meters. Greipel was 3rd. Arnaud Demare (FDJ) finished 2nd.  Cavendish was the top finisher for the team, in 17th place. 

"I was behind Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) when he crashed," Cavendish said about the crash of the German sprinter for Giant-Shimano inside the final few kilometers. So, I was in the back a bit and lost some speed. I had to use a lot of energy to return to the front. The team did a good job getting me back there. In the end it was a bit chaotic. But that can happen in cycling. Today I had a good feeling throughout the race, so I am pretty confident about the next stages.

"You saw more than me. I was behind Kittel when he crashed at a narrow little roundabout, 2 kilometres from the finish. The peloton split because of it. Some gentlemen in the peloton gave me a hand to move up, but I got to the front with 500m to go, before the sprint even started, and I was already on the limit. I'm happy with how the team rode today. There'll be other sprints and I'm happy with my form."

Alessandro Petacchi was ahead of the crash and ended up trying to do the sprint for himself before hitting the headwind too early and fading back to 36th.

"I was ahead but I heard a crash," he told Cyclingnews. "Renshaw also almost crashed and maybe Mark was left behind in that moment. When I saw Mark again, I tried to do something myself but by then it was too late."