Chris Froome and Richie Porte stayed in the hunt on the second stage of the Volta a Catalunya as Alejandro Valverde sprinted to victory in Olot.

Team Sky’s lead riders enjoyed another trouble-free day as they bided their time for the more decisive stages to come, and crossed the line in a sizeable front group after Valverde had outsprinted Juan Jose Rojas to make it a Movistar 1-2 in drizzly conditions.

Maciej Paterski was also in the bunch, which ensured the CCC-Sprandi-Polkowice rider defended his four-second lead over Pierre Rolland (Europcar) at the top of the overall standings. Froome and Porte meanwhile, remain two minutes and 50 seconds back alongside the other main contenders, with Wout Poels and Nicolas Roche currently the highest-placed Team Sky riders in seventh and eighth positions respectively after the duo picked up bonus seconds on Monday.

The action followed a predictable path for a sprint stage with four riders breaking away almost as soon as they had exited Mataro.

Their lead stretched to around five minutes before CCC-Sprandi-Polkowice began leading the peloton, and that gap had been lowered to a minute when Lluis Mas left his fellow escapees behind on the approach to the final climb.

The Caja Rural-RGA rider was pegged back on the third-category Alto de Molagut, and a group of 101 riders remained in contention as they swept into the destination town.

It was Rojas who lit things up down the closing straight, and the Spaniard allowed his team-mate round him on the long drag to the finish for his sceond win of the season.

After the stage, Sports Director Nicolas Portal reported that the day had passed with no significant dramas, and expects a much tougher test on Wednesday.

He told TeamSky.com: “It was a long day out there with 192km to ride in the rain, and it followed the path of a typical sprint stage. We thought about making an attack on that last climb when everything came back together, but the pace was so high that we decided against it. Instead, Vasil [Kiryienka] did a tremendous job and everyone got home safely.

“Tomorrow is a much harder day with five categorised climbs coming one after another before a fast decent into the finish. This is where we could see the first real shake up in the general classification, so it’s important we keep our wits about us and take our chances if and when they materialise.”