American sprinter Tyler Farrar won the second stage of the weeklong Tirreno-Adriatico race Thursday and also took the overall lead.

Led out by Garmin-Cervelo teammate, Norwegian God of Thunder and World Champion Thor Hushovd, Farrar beat Italian rider Alessandro Petacchi in a mass sprint. He finished the 126-mile route from Carrara to Indicatore in 4 hours, 56 minutes, 6 seconds.

"We were motivated and the team was perfect," Farrar commented after his win and continued "When the world champion is riding for you, you have to win."

"I'm incredibly proud of this result and the outstanding teamwork it took to accomplish it," Farrar added.

Team Lampre's Alessandro Petacchi finished with the same time and Juan Jose Haedo of Argentina and Team Saxo Bank-SunGard crossed third, also in the same time as the winner.

Team Garmin-Cervelo sports director Jonathan Vaughters was very happy with Farrar's victory in today's stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. "This is a huge victory for Tyler and for every rider here in Tirreno - we just proved to the world that we can do what we said we could. I also want to give a special shout out to the Lithuanian express: Ramunas Navardauskas, who put in a great ride along with the rest of the guys."

"It was a special sight - the rainbow jersey delivering Tyler to the line, and Tyler's explosive finish," Vaughters added.

Farrar holds a two-second lead over Dutch rider Tom Leezer in the overall standings. Leezer is on the Rabobank team that won the opening team time trial yesterday.

Stage three on Friday is a 117-mile race from Terranuova Bracciolini to Perugia.

Watch video highlights from the 2011 Tirreno-Adriatico in the videos section here on Roadcycling.com after each day's stage.

Download Roadcycling.com's new cycling iPhone app online at http://itunes.apple.com/app/roadcycling-cycling-app/id395146493