Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole) has won Stage 2 of the Dauphine Libere. The Norwegian sprinter bested Alexandre Usov (Phonak) and Baden Cooke (La Francaise des Jeux.com) to win the rolling, 195-km ride from Bollene to Vienne in 4:23:42. Iban Mayo (Euskaltel) remains the overall leader.

The racing began early. In the first km, Jacky Durand (La Francaise des Jeux.com) attacked and was joined by Victor Hugo Pena (U.S. Postal Service) and three others, but the peloton reeled them in. At eight km, however, Maryan Hary (Brioches La Boulangere) and Christophe Edaleine (Jean Delatour) attacked. The pair's advantage maxed out at seven and a half minutes, but the Euskaltel-led bunch had closed to within 2:00 of the break with 20 km left.

With about 10 km left, Hary dropped Edaleine. The peloton reeled in Hary with less than a km left. The stage came down to a bunch sprint, which Hushovd won.

In the overall, Mayo leads David Millar (Cofidis) by 0:05 and Brad McGee (La Francaise des Jeux.com) by 0:10. Stage 3 will change this state of affairs. The rolling, 33.4-km individual time trial from Saint-Paul-en-Jarez to Saint-Heand should put a time trialist such as Millar or Lance Armstrong (U.S. Postal Service), who is fourth overall at 0:11, in the overall lead. How will things shake out? Check in at http://www.roadcycling.com/ and find out!

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