Cavendish's team-mate and key lead-out man Mark Renshaw carried his speed through to place third behind Nizzolo at the end of the hilly stage in Split.
Cavendish now takes the overall lead from Nizzolo going into Thursday's stage three. The Manxman concentrated on his track racing over the winter, which netted him a world title in the Madison alongside Bradley Wiggins. He is aiming to ride in the omnium during the 2016 Rio Olympics.
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The second edition of the Tour of Croatia concludes on Sunday, April 24. The decisive stages are likely to be Friday’s mountain-top finish on stage four, and Saturday’s 40.3-kilometre team time trial.
Mark Cavendish wins Stage 2 of the 2016 Tour of Croatia from Giacomo Nizzolo
(Image credit: Watson)
Tour of Croatia 2016 stage two result
NP Plitvicka jezera to Split, 240km
1. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data
2. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
3. Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data
4. Michael Kolar (Svk) Tinkoff
5. Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana
6. Roman Maikin (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
7. Nicola Ruffoni (Ita) Bardiani-CSF
8. Ivan Savitskiy (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
9. Timothy Dupont (Bel) Verandas Willems
10. Karol Domagalski (Pol) One Pro Cycling all same time
Watch: Top 5 men's WorldTour kits
General classification after stage two
1. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data
2. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo at same time
3. Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data at 10 secs
4. Timothy Dupont (Bel) Verandas Willems at 12 secs
5. Nicola Ruffoni (Ita) Bardiani CSF at 13 secs
6. Alexey Kurbatov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo at 15 secs
7. Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana at 16 secs
8. Ioannis Tamouridis (Gre) Synergy Baku at 16 secs
9. Pawel Franczak (Pol) Verva Activejet at 16 secs
10. Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) IAM Cycling at 16 secs
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