As expected, the 199.3km race went down to a sprint finish and there was a surprise as Manuel Belletti beat Lampre's Danielo Hondo and HTC Colombia's Mark Cavendish (picutred below) in the race for the line.
Ireland's Daniel Martin was 45th.
Speaking to our friends at cyclingnews.com after the race, Mark Cavendish, who is a transfer target for Team Sky and BMC said: ."It was a slightly strange sprint but it was only my second race after the Tour de France and so I can't complain. Next I've got the Vuelta."
The Vuelta a España starts next Saturday (August 28th) in Seville with a 16.5km prologue. Stage one, the next day goes from Alcala de Guadaira to Marbella. You can see the race live on British Eurosport.
Cavendish's HTC-Columbia's team mate Andre Greipel, who is joining Omega Pharma Lotto, took the team's 87th victory of the 2010 season at the Eneco Tour winning the sprint finish in Ardooie in Belgium, beating Robbie McEwen (pictured below) who won the opening stage.
"It was difficult to hold a good position in the bunch and so we decided to wait and hit the front in the final kilometres of the stage when there was a headwind," Greipel explained to his team's press office. "Mark Renshaw dropped me off on Boasson Hagen's wheel just before the tight corner, with 1.5km to go. It was perfect, and I did the rest. I trusted my teammates and they trusted me. It's great to get the first win of the race and now anything else is a nice bonus."
Friday's third stage at the Eneco Tour is around the town of Ronse in the heart of the cycling-mad Flanders region of Belgium.
Greipel's stage win was The HTC-Columbia men's team 50th win of 2010 Thursday. The team's breadth of wins spans seven solid months of racing, beginning with a dominating three stage wins and the overall victory at the Tour Down Under, and includes five stage wins at the Tour de France, victory at the Belgian Classic Gent-Wevelgem, two stages and the overall at the Tour of California and two stage wins at the Giro d'Italia. Remarkably, the men's squad's 50 wins to date was achieved by 15 different athletes.
"It's a difficult feat to be successful year after year, and it always impresses me that the boys continue to work so hard and achieve so much as a team," commented Team Manager Rolf Aldag.
In 2010 the HTC-Columbia men racked up four National Time Trial Championship title and one National Road Championship title, including Tony Martin [GER], Frantisek Rabon [CZK], Marco Pinotti [ITA], Martin Velits [SVK] and Aleksejs Saramotins [LAT].
The HTC-Columbia women earned three National Time Trial Championship titles, including neo pro Evelyn Stevens [USA], Judith Arndt [GER] and Emilia Fahlin [SWE]. The women's team has won 37 races to date including three stages at the Tour de L'Aude, China World Cup, two stages plus the overall at Redlands, the Philadelphia Liberty Classic, five stages at the Giro d'Italia Femminile, and two stages at the Route de France among others. The HTC-Columbia women lead the Teams Classification in the 2010 World Cup Series.
"I'm really proud of both the men's and the women's teams for their exemplary teamwork and remarkably consistent winning performance," added team owner Bob Stapleton. "The success of these two teams is a result of each member's commitment to the sport, and it's exciting to be a part of that."
Thursday's win brings Team HTC-Columbia's victory tally since 2008 to 368; 221 for the men and 147 for the women.
Pictures copyright of Covsupport News Service. Credit CNS/KM