Aussie Leigh Howard wins in Spain

AUSTRALIA'S Orica GreenEDGE team has raced off with their second win of the new cycling season win at the Challenge Majorca in Spain.

Leigh Howard

AUSTRALIA'S Orica GreenEDGE team has raced off with their second win of the new cycling season with Leigh Howard claiming a surprise win at Challenge Majorca in Spain after an early morning reconnaissance of the course.

Howard said a quick look over the finish in the morning paved the way for his win in the tough 167km second stage of the Tour.

"We knew it would be a crazy, hectic and potentially dangerous sprint," Howard said."I'm glad we had the preview. It allowed us to formulate a plan that we stuck to almost to a T.

"I came out on top because everyone did their jobs. The team has given me a great opportunity here and put a lot of faith in me. It's nice to repay them."

Howard's teammates moved to the front of the peloton with around 27km to go in a move designed to break up the field before the tricky finish.

"We wanted to make the race hard and come to the finish with a small field to reduce the danger in the sprint," team director Neil Stephens said.

"If we came to the line with 150 guys fighting for wheels it would have been really dangerous. Our goal was to have only 30 or 40 riders contesting the sprint."

Howard then finished the job for the Australian team, outsprinting American Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) and local Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar).

Howard's win followed on from teammate Simon Gerrans saving Aussie pride with a victory in the toughest stage of this year's Santos Tour Down Under, the opener of the WorldTour in Adelaide in January.