DUTCHMAN Moreno Hofland won stage two of the Tour de Yorkshire in York on Saturday as Team Sky's Lars Petter Nordhaug tacked on a few more seconds to his overall lead ahead of Sunday's decisive finale.

Hofland gave the LottoNL-Jumbo team their first victory of the season as he edged out IAM Cycling's Matteo Pelucchi in a sprint finish in the shadow of York racecourse.

"Luckily the zero beside Lotto-Jumbo is gone and I think from now on we will go up," Hofland said.

"I had a rough beginning to the year, not what I expected, and this victory gives me a boost before the Giro d'Italia and I hope to be up there again."

Norwegian rider Nordhaug, winner of stage one in Scarborough on Friday, finished safely in the front group and leads by ten seconds from Spain's 2008 Olympic road race champion Samuel Sanchez (BMC) and Frenchman Thomas Voeckler.

Sir Bradley Wiggins, 15 minutes down overall, finished in the pack six seconds behind the leaders, but will have climbed off the bike to learn that his task of breaking the Hour Record next month has become even harder after Movistar's Alex Dowsett raised the bar to 52.937 kilometres in Manchester earlier in the day.

Saturday's stage was a 174km run from Selby to York which saw the riders set out east to Beverley and up to Malton before heading back to complete three laps of a circuit around York, with the streets again lined by thousands of fans in scenes reminiscent of last year's Grand Depart of the Tour de France.

"I think it's been as good (as last year)," said Team Sky sporting director Rod Ellingworth of the atmosphere. "Certainly considering the weather was not so good today. There were a hell of a lot of people in Beverley, it was packed, and all the main towns and villages were heaving with people having a good time.

"Sometimes I was wishing out I was out there having a beer rather than being in the car."

Even without a beer, Ellingworth could reflect on a decent day for Team Sky after Friday's hugely disappointing injury for Yorkshireman Ben Swift, with Nordhaug able to pick up a few more seconds by staying in the front group at the finish.

"The lads are really up for it," Ellingworth said. "They're still disappointed we lost Ben but they've got the bit between their teeth and we couldn't have asked for a better day today."

An eight-man breakaway, including Lancastrian Mark McNally of Madison Genesis and Wolverhampton's Andy Tennant, riding for Team Wiggins, built a lead of more than six minutes before Beverley, but saw it erode quickly once they turned westwards back to York.

Giant Alpecin's Bert De Backer, who would have been expecting to ride here for star sprinter Marcel Kittel before the German's withdrawal on Friday, made a move inside the final six kilometres but was soon caught, and once they all came back together at the finish, Hofland timed his move to perfection to race clear of Pelucchi and raise his fists in the air.

The race concludes on Sunday with the most testing stage of all, a 167km run from Wakefield to Leeds which revisits many of the roads tackled in last year's Tour, only this time in reverse.

Major splits are expected, and Team Sky will have to be on the defensive with Nordhaug in the leader's blue jersey.

"Yesterday was a hard day but tomorrow will be much harder," Ellingworth said. "The lads will try to protect Lars Petter.

"Obviously (David) Lopez will recognise many of the roads, but the rest don't and that's where we lack a bit with not having Swifty. He knows the roads so well. But they'll be up for it, and they're strong enough, that's the main thing."