Welcome to our LIVE coverage of this second stage of the 2012 Giro d'Italia.

Replays show that it was not Arnaud Demare but his FDJ team-mate Geoffrey Soupe who took third.

A win for the world champion Mark Cavendish!

Hushovd looks strong before Cavendish comes through to take the win ahead of Goss and Demare!

There's a big crash on the final bend before the sprint...

Here we go: last kilometre and GreenEdge are right on the front.

Farnese Vini's Pippo Pozzato is on the front. He now gives way to Sky. Cav's quite a few riders back for the time being.

Dave Harman is going for Rabobank's Theo Bos for his pick today. It looks like Mark Renshaw has been demoted back to lead-out duties...

Great riding by Phinney. He has five riders with him as he rejoins the peloton - so that's TTT practice too for BMC.

Garmin-Barracuda are right on the front now, setting up their man Tyler Farrar.

Phinney now has a team-mate alongside him. He's 25 seconds down on the peloton.

Phinney will have to time trial these last 7km like he did yesterday if he wants to keep hold of the pink jersey tonight...

Disaster for Taylor Phinney! The pink jersey has dropped a chain with 8km to go and he'll have to chase back from a long way.

First day of a grand tour often throws up a surprise of two, so expect an outsider to feature heavily in the top five. Perhaps someone like Arnaud Demare, or even Feillu?

Ten clicks to go. And Sean Kelly's pick for the day is Mark Cavendish: "he looks very comfortable and the team are going a good job".

On that evidence, the final 90 degree bend was not too bad. Of course, at pace it will be a different matter.

It's the calm before the storm. In fact, the riders are doing a dress rehearsal for the finish: they have passed through Herning and over the line, but now have a lap of the town before the big finale.

Of course, Astana have their man Enrico Gasparotto for the sprint, hence there presence on the front. Androni have Roberto Ferrari too. There are two riders I didn't mention earlier. Bak has been swept up.

There's a big right-angle bend with 500m to go ahead of today's finish in Herning. With the riders driving to the line at top speed, there could well be a nervous touch of wheels.

Just 10 seconds for Bak now. The carrots are cooked for the Dane, who won't bring home the bacon.

Sky's Ian Stannard leads the peloton. Plus ca change. Tucked behind him is a GreenEdge rider. The Australians will be hoping to open their Grand Tour account with a win for Matthew Goss.