George Hincapie (Team High Road) attacked in the final corner and overhauled Gerolsteiner's Sebastian Lang to win stage 2 of the Dauphiné Libéré on Tuesday.

Sylvain Chavanal (Française des Jeux) took second in the 184km stage from Bourg-Saint-Andeol to Vienne, just pipping Lang at the line.

After High Road sprinter André Greipel broke a wheel on the run-in to Vienne, Hincapie was given the green light to take his chance and made the most of it, rocketing after the attacking Lang.

"I attacked in the last corner, bridged up to Lang, had to sit and wait for a second to recover, but then I won easily," Hincapie said. "It was a little bit of luck, and I'm very happy. It was a good chance for me to take."

Hincapie credited his team with the win.

"The team worked hard during the last 15 kilometers, like yesterday," Hincapie said. "We are a team that can win with many riders and in many ways. We have some of the best sprinters in the world. A sprinter like (Mark) Cavendish is perhaps the fastest in the closing stages."

"Cavendish will perhaps bring the team a victory at the Tour (de France)," he added. "I would also love to win a stage at the Tour."

Dauphiné Libéré Stage 2 - Hushovd stays in yellow.

Photo: Graham Watson

Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) finished fourth to retain the overall lead by a second over Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) with Levi Leipheimer (Astana) third at five seconds. Hincapie moved into fourth at 13 seconds.

Hushovd took the green points jersey as well, with David de la Fuente (Saunier Duval-Scott) taking the polka-dot climber's jersey.

De la Fuente had been part of an early break with Stephane Auge (Cofidis) and Benat Albizuri of Euskaltel. The trio took off shortly after the start at Bourg-Saint-Andeol and opened up a four-minute lead before being caught with 11km to go.

Wednesday's 31km individual time trial will take place in Saint-Paul-en-Jarez, in the Loire region.