Having won the opening stage yesterday, the Team Colombia rider (pictured above) won the second stage from Thurles to Loughrea beating second placed Michael Van Staeyen.
David Millar finished in 78th.
Cavendish,who has a thirteen second lead over Julian Dean, said after the race that he was tired and it was thanks to his teams mates that he won the stage. "The team rode all day again," said the Manx man. "Despite being on the front for so long, they still had the kick to lead it out full-gas from five kilometres to go. They were able to keep the pace fast and that is how strong my team is. I think that without them, my form is not good enough to do anything here. "Basically, they keep me protected all day and then gave me such a perfect lead out at the end that I really had to finish it off with a win."
Tomorrow's stage is the 201km ride from Ballinrobe to Galway.