Martin well up in Romandie bunch sprint

Dan Martin had another untroubled day on stage two of the Tour de Romandie finishing well up in the bunch sprint won by Jonathan Hivert (Saur-Sojasun).

Martin (Garmin-Barracuda) placed 22nd to preserve his 23 seconds deficit to race leader Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky).

The 149.1 kilometre stage from Montbeliard to Moutier featured three categorised climbs and was dominated by breakaway riders Christian Meier (GreenEdge) and Lars Bak (Lotto-Belisol).

They made time over the third category Bourrignon and second category climb of Les Ecorcheresses but were brought back on the category two climb of the Col des Rangiers with 27 kilometres to go.

Martin’s Garmin-Barracuda teammate Peter Stetina launched a counter attack with Fabrice Jeandesboz (Saur-Sojasun) but some strong riding by the GreenEdge team brought them to heel with four kilometres remaining.

Hivert made light work of the sprint with Rui Costa (Moviestar) second and Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank) third.

Matt Brammeier (Omega Pharma Quickstep) was unluckly to suffer bike problems at the start of the stage which left him chasing for twenty mintues. The effort took its toll later and he remarked that he had endured a "bloody hard day" which ended with him dropping 7'20".

Wiggins holds a seven seconds lead in the GC over teammate Michael Rogers with Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) third at nine seconds.

Stage three from La Neuvevulle to Charmey features another three categoried climbs with the uphill finish set to ruffle the GC after 157.9 kilometres of racing.

• Array