Elia Viviani was unable to replicate his day one victory at the Eneco Tour as he found himself blocked in at the finish on stage two.

The Italian arrived at the front late on the wheel of team-mate Andy Fenn but had to check up as the sprint took hold. Coming from deep in the pack he was faced with a wall of riders and found a successful path to the finish blocked.

The end result was 14th on the stage, dropping Viviani to third place overall after Team Sky had controlled much of the 180-kilometre stage.

Andre Greipel and his Lotto Soudal squad replicated Team Sky’s tactics of a day earlier and took the win in Breda, with the German fending off Jacopo Guarnieri (Katusha) and Tom Boonen (Etixx – Quick-Step).

However the overall lead went to Jesper Asselman (Team Roompot) after the Dutchman spent a second day in the breakaway, collecting precious bonus seconds during the race’s ‘Golden Kilometre’. He now holds a five-second advantage over Greipel and Viviani, who sit equal on time and separated only by stage placings.

Team Sky had put numbers to the fore in support of overnight leader Viviani, using experience to set a suitable tempo as they gradually hauled back the duo of Asselman and Gijs van Hoecke (Topsport Vlaanderen).

Into the closing stages more teams began to arrive on the front, with the lead duo caught with 15km to go as the sprint trains took hold.

“It’s an unwritten rule in cycling that when you are in the race lead you should defend the jersey," said Sports Director Kurt Asle Arvesen. "We wanted to do that today and we expended a lot of energy doing that. That’s not to make an excuse, as we saw a lot of strong, hungry teams there at the end and they did a good job.

“We had the same plan as yesterday, to keep the guys up there at the front so they could save energy for the final. We knew didn’t have the team to lead it out right to the line. So we wanted to get Andy and Elia up there at the end but it was a chaotic finish and we didn’t quite have the luck on our side. You need that bit of luck when you try to do something like that but it didn’t quite come off.

“There’s another chance for a sprint tomorrow. It’s a tricky finish and we’ll give it a good go. We’re still really happy after the victory yesterday and we’d like to do it again.”