Thomas, left, won the 2018 Tour de France
Geraint Thomas retained his advantage over Simon Yates in the Giro d'Italia as Diego Ulissi won after a late attack on stage two.
Thomas' Ineos Grenadiers team-mate Filippo Ganna continues to lead overall after his win in Saturday's time trial.
Ulissi broke away from the peloton with about 1km to go of the final climb before powering away from Peter Sagan.
Thomas is third overall, 23 seconds down, with Michelton-Scott's Yates eighth, 49 seconds back.
Thomas, 34, earned the gap he has over his general classification rivals after fourth place during the time trial into Palermo, which began the three-week race across Italy.
The only other GC challenger close to his time is Yates, 28, who is expected to lose time to Thomas in the race's three time trials, before recovering it during the mountain stages.
Ulissi, of Tour de France winners UAE-Team Emirates, won his seventh career Giro stage after an impressive late push away from the peloton up a small final climb after the 149km race from Alcamo to Agrigento on Sicily.
Bora Hansgrohe's Sagan followed, but was not able to stay with Ulissi in the final sprint. It is a year since three-time road race world champion Sagan has won a race.
Stage 2 result
1. Diego Ulissi (Ita/UAE Emirates) 3 hours 24 minutes 58 seconds
2. Peter Sagan (Slo/Bora) same time
3. Mikkel Honore (Den/Deceuninck-Quick Step) same time
4. Michael Matthews (Aus/Sunweb) +5secs
5. Luca Wackermann (Its/Vini Zabu-KTM) +5secs
6. Joao Almeida (Por/Deceuninck-Quick Step) +5secs
7. Gianluca Brambilla (Ita/Trek-Segafredo) +5secs
8. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita/Trek-Segafredo) +5secs
9. Pello Bilbao (Spa/Bahrain-McLaren) +5secs
10. Lucas Hamilton (Aus/Mitchelton-Scott) +5secs
Others
11. Geraint Thomas (GB/Ineos Grenadiers) +5secs
19. Simon Yates (GB/Mitchelton-Scott) +5secs
General classification
1. Filippo Ganna (Ita/Ineos Grenadiers) 3 hours 40 minutes and 27 seconds
2. Joao Almeida (Por/Quick Step) +22secs
3. Geraint Thomas (GBR/Ineos Grenadiers) +23secs
4. Tobias Foss (Nor/Jumbo-Visma) +31secs
5. Josef Cerny (Cze /CCC) +36secs
6. Matteo Sobrero (Ita/NTT) +40secs
7. Jan Tratnik (Slo/Bahrain-McLaren) +42secs
8. Simon Yates (GB/Mitchelton-Scott) +49secs
9. Tanel Kangert (Est/EF Pro Cycling) same time
10. Diego Ulissi (Ita/UAE-Team Emirates) +54secs
