Stage 2 results: Alessandro Petacchi wins after veering in front of Mark Cavendish who mistimed his sprint. @RobbieHunter: "If Cav had gone a bit earlier he would have won but he didn't & that's racing"

Stage 2 results
1  Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre ISD)    5:45:40
2  Mark Cavendish (HTC) 
3  Manuel Belleti (Colnago) 
4  Roberto Ferrrari (Androni Giocatolli) 
5  Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil) 
6  Davide Apollonio (Sky) 
7  Tyler Farrar (Garmin) 

General classification after Stage 2
1  Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) 

May 6 post: Riders will tell you the first road stage of any Grand Tour is always a hectic even a scary day. Breaks are eagerly started to capture the first sprint and mountain points and to capture the first bit of camera time. And when it's a flat route like the stage 2 run from Alba to Parma, the sprinter teams are eager to bring the race back together for a mass sprint.

Stage 2 is just one of four flat stages at this year's Giro d'Italia so there isn't a hope in hell a break will succeed. The two-corner, flat final km after the longest stage of this year's Giro at 244 km should be good entertainment which favors Lampre's Alessandro Petacchi style while the straight final several hundred meters favor Mark Cavendish and Tyler Farrar.

Parma is an ancient city and home to one of the oldest universities in the world, the University of Parma. It was also the start host for one of the most famous stages in Giro d'Italia history. In 1988, the riders had no idea what was in store for them as they left the warm, sunny start in Parma (photo above) for the high mountains of Northern Italy. Most of us are now familiar with this video of riders cresting Passo di Gavia in blizzard conditions. It was a day that ended with many riders suffering from extreme hypothermia, but Andy Hampsten faired better than most finishing second and moving into the race lead. Well, now you know where that stage started... if you didn't already know. — Steve
Giro 2011: Sprinters guide — uk.eurosport.yahoo