Saudi- Felline takes stage two Matthews retains lead in Basque Country

(MENAFN- Arab News) VITORIA Spain: Italian Fabio Felline edged out Australia's Michael Matthews to win the second stage but the Orica-GreedEdge rider maintained his overall lead at the Tour of the Basque Country on Tuesday.
Felline pipped Matthews in a sprint finish to the line on the 175.4km ride from Bilbao to Vitoria in a time of 4hr 32min 32sec with France's Tony Gallopin in third.
Matthews retains the overall lead though having won the opening stage on Monday.
Polish world champion Michal Kwiatowski was fourth as race favorite Nairo Quintana finished safely amongst the peloton.
Riders at the Tour of the Basque Country delayed the start of the second stage on Tuesday in a protest over safety after a pileup late in Monday's opening stage in Bilbao left several racers needing hospital treatment.
The five-minute protest was organized by the Association of Professional Cyclists (CPA) who were incensed that a series of green metal poles that caused the crash had been marked out only by placing an orange traffic cone on top of them.
'With this action the CPA which has always been pushing for more safety for riders wants to focus the attention of the organizers the UCI (International Cycling Union) and the media on this important issue' the association said.
There were no serious incidents in Tuesday's stage with Italian Trek rider Fabio Felline winning a sprint finish and Australian Michael Matthews of Orica coming in second and retaining the overall lead in the seven-day event in northern Spain.
Safety at cycling races has been in the news in recent days after two riders had to abandon the Tour of Flanders on Sunday following incidents involving crashes with neutral service cars.