Sprint finish works well for Thwaites

Thwaites, 21, who rides for NetApp Endura, came home in the sprint at the end of the 171km circuit won by Italy’s Sacha Modolo.

Former world champion Mark Cavendish, who won the opening stage, finished second.

Thwaites’s NetApp Endura team have been invited into the Criterium du Dauphine in France in June, one of the biggest stage races outside the three grand tours.

It is good news for the German team who are lobbying to gain entry to one of the big three races – the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta Espana in the coming years, with Thwaites and his fellow Yorkshireman Russell Downing in particular, hoping to ride in the 2014 Tour de France, which begins in Yorkshire.

n Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas took the lead of the Tour Down Under with a dramatic win on stage two to Rostrevor.

The Welshman, part of Great Britain’s gold medal-winning team pursuit line-ups at the last two Olympics, made a bold break on the daunting Corkscrew Hill climb and was rewarded with victory in a sprint finish.

Thomas avoided a late pile-up which took down world champion Philippe Gilbert and edged out Movistar’s Javier Moreno for the stage win, with Ben Hermans third for RadioShack. The same trio occupy the podium positions in the general classification, Thomas holding a five-second lead.