Dennis in second spot

AUSTRALIAN cyclist Rohan Dennis has held onto second place in the Tour de Romandie’s overall standings after Thomas De Gendt claimed stage two honours in the Swiss road race.

The Belgian Lotto Soudal breakaway specialist De Gendt crossed the line at Yverdon-les-Bains two minutes and four seconds ahead of the peloton after the 173.9km stretch from Delemont through the French-speaking part of the alpine nation.

Sonny Colbrelli, whose Bahrain-Merida teammates had led a panicked chase, took second place while Samuel Dumoulin ( AG2R La Mondiale) finished third. Primoz Roglic of LottoNLJumbo retained the yellow jersey from Dennis, who finished among the main bunch and has the same time as the Slovenian race leader, before Friday’s stage three time trial.

Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) holds third four seconds back while BMC Racing’s Australian star Richie Porte is just 13 seconds off the pace in 10th. Other Australians to finish among the main group in stage two were fourthplaced Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) and Mitchelton-Scott trio Damien Howson, Rob Power and Lucas Hamilton.

In the overall classification, Power is 18th just 17 seconds off the leader while Howson is a further two seconds behind in 22nd.

De Gendt, at one point led, by almost eight minutes at the 75km mark before he crossed the line well clear for the 13th win of his career.