Caleb Ewan takes overall lead after Frenchman Bouhanni wins in Harrogate

French sprinter Nacer Bouhanni took victory on stage two of the Tour de Yorkshire in Harrogate as a second consecutive second place put Australian Caleb Ewan in the leader's blue jersey.

Cofidis' Bouhanni finished comfortably clear of Orica-Scott's Ewan in an untidy sprint that came after a series of attacks knocked the sprint trains off their stride towards the end of the 122.5km stage from Tadcaster.

Direct-Energie's Frenchman Jonathan Hivert came home third just ahead of stage one winner Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen of LottoNL-Jumbo.

The short middle stage of the Tour had been animated by a four-man breakaway that led them over the only climb of the day, the Cote de Lofthouse, as Connor Swift (Madison Genesis), Sebastian Mora Vedri (Raleigh GAC), Harry Canfield (Bike Channel Canyon) and James Gullen (JLT Condor) built an advantage that maxed out at three minutes.

Although the peloton were happy to let them dangle out there for most of the day, they were caught earlier than the sprint teams might have hoped when last year's overall winner, Thomas Voeckler, made a move with 20km to go.

That was the first of a series of attacks that upset the rhythm of the lead-out trains and made for a messy finish to the race.

With time bonuses applied, Ewan leads overall by two seconds from Bouhanni and Groenewegen, with Bike Channel Canyon's Chris Opie fourth at eight seconds alongside Hivert.