BELFAST -- Marcel Kittel sprinted to victory in a wet second stage of the Giro dItalia on Saturday as Michael Matthews took the overall leaders pink jersey from Orica-GreenEdge teammate Svein Tuft of Langley, B.C. Kittel timed his move to perfection, with 200 metres remaining, to edge out Nacer Bouhanni and Giacomo Nizzolo in a bunch sprint at the end of the 218-kilometre (135-mile) leg, which started and ended in Belfast. The German cyclist clocked more than five hours to claim his first Giro stage win on the day before his 26th birthday. "Honestly, it was not so easy today to stay in front with the team, I lost them a few times," Kittel said. "It was a very hard day with all the rain, and the boys did an amazing job. "The weather was very Irish I guess, and youre cold if you ride five hours in the rain. "I was really overwhelmed by all the people on the roads, it was really a big party despite the weather. Im super happy and proud about this win, its really something to have a win in each of the three Grand Tours." Matthews finished three seconds ahead of his Orica teammates and was hoping to still be wearing the maglia rosa when the Giro moves into Italy. "I didnt expect it, its truly an honour to be wearing this jersey," Matthews said. "We had a great team time trial yesterday and we decided to give it to Svein for his birthday. To take it today is truly something amazing. "Ill try to keep it as long as I can, hopefully until at least stage six or seven. Theres a few guys who are close to me. Its truly a massive thing for the team and for me as well." Despite the heavy rain, thousands of people lined the route which took in picturesque rock formation, the Giants Causeway, as it wound down the coast. Two Garmin-Sharp cyclists withdrew from the race following a crash in Fridays opening team time trial. Dan Martin will have surgery later Saturday on a broken collarbone. Teammate Koldo Fernandez finished the stage, but tests afterward revealed he had also broken his clavicle. There was an early breakaway of four riders. Jeffry Romero, Maarten Tjallingii, Sander Armee and Andrea Fedi swiftly built a lead of more than six minutes on the peloton, which was led by time trial winner Orica. Tjallingii had a superb stage. Not only did the Dutch cyclist lead for most of the day, but he also powered up both category four climbs to claim the blue King of the Mountains jersey. With the peloton quickly catching the four escapees, Tjallingii made a solo break with eight kilometres to go and briefly looked like holding on until he was caught with little more than three kilometres remaining. Sundays third stage is a 187-kilometre cross-border leg from Armagh to Dublin. Monday is a rest day before the race resumes in southern Italy with a stage ending in Bari. The Giro ends in Trieste on June 1. Air Force 1 Alte Bianche Outlet .The result meant Juventus will spend the winter break three points clear of Roma after the league leader beat Cagliari 3-1 on Thursday.Milan remained seventh ahead of the rest of the weekends fixtures, but was provisionally two points behind third-place Napoli in their duel for the final Champions League spot. Air Force 1 Alte Qs . -- Brendan Leipsic had two goals and an assist and Nicolas Petan extended his point streak to 11 games as the Portland Winterhawks slipped past the Red Deer Rebels 5-4 on Saturday in Western Hockey League action. http://www.airforce1outletitalia.it/scontate-air-force-1-alte-nere.html. With nothing tangible at stake, the Raptors turned in their most impressive outing of the fall in their seventh and second to last exhibition tilt against their stiffest competition yet, but they lost a couple starters in the process. Air Force 1 Alte Special Field . Berdych and Stepanek played all five matches when the Czechs beat Spain 3-2 in the final last November in Prague to win the countrys first title as an independent nation. Air Force 1 Outlet . 1. AMIR JOHNSON: Nice to see him back in the lineup Tuesday night in Washington DC. Played with great energy and purpose. Its amazing when a guy gets those few precious days to recover what it does to the bounce in their step and overall game/confidence.OTTAWA - Anton Khudobin is finally starting to feel some relief after such a long struggle in net to start his season with the Carolina Hurricanes.Khudobin made 30 saves Saturday night as the Huricanes defeated the Ottawa Senators 3-2— his fourth victory in a row after failing to record a win in his first 10 outings of the season,It had to come at some point. I lost my first 10 games and I tried to find my game and Ive been a little frustrated, Khudobin said after the game in which he was named the first star.Right now Im just more relaxed and I dont think about anything I just stop the pucks.Nathan Gerbe and Justin Faulk each had a goal and an assist while Brad Malone also scored for the Hurricanes (15-25-5), who have one game remaining before the All-Star break.Cody Ceci and Mark Stone scored for the Senators (18-18-, who were unable to get any puck possession in the Carolina zone after pulling Craig Anderson in favour of an extra attacker in the final two minutes.Anderson finished with 25 saves.Gerbe scored the winner with a little under six minutes to play in the third period when his shot from 15 feet inside the blue-line appeared to hit something on the way to the net before getting past Anderson.The teams had entered the third tied 1-1 but less than three minutes into the period each team added another.Stone gave the Senators their first lead of the game when he beat Khudobin high to the glove side just a minute into the period, but Faulk tied the game at 2:21.Its frustrating coming into the locker room after losses. You look at yourself and cant help but think your playoff hopes are dwindling after you lose games. We just need to find ways to get that success, said Stone, who has points in each of his last five games.It just takes a little bit of a run and some consistent hockey. This is the time now, these games are important and we have to string some wins together.The loss leaves the Senators 10-points out of a playoff spot, but worse than that its a game they certainly could have, perhaps should have won.Its a missed two points at the end of the day, Senators coach Dave Cameron said, then turning to baseball for an analogy.Its kind of like if youre at bat with the game on the line and you hit a 450-foot foul ball and then you strike out. When you go back to the dugout what do you think about, the near miss or the strikeout? We have to concentrate on the strikeout to get us over that hump.dddddddddddd We have to be able to put that ball in play.Erik Karlsson had two chances in the third period to give the Senators the lead and break the 2-2 tie but was stopped by Khudobin on a breakaway on one opportunity and then stopped by the post on another.A lot of the credit for the win also goes to Hurricanes defenceman Tim Gleason, who had three hits and three blocked shots and was awarded the red firemans hat after the game as the hardest worker by his teammates.Its a great feeling and a great honour. Ill just take it in stride and enjoy it for as long as it lasts, Gleason said.The Senators had the majority of opportunities in the first period but it was the Hurricanes who emerged from the opening 20 minutes with a 1-0 lead.After several turnovers along the side boards the puck went behind the goal line at the side of the Senators net where Patrick Dwyer won a battle with Ottawa defenceman Patrick Wiercioch and fed Malone in front of the net for the first goal of the game.Malone took a pass and beat Anderson with a quick shot with just 32 seconds left in the period.Earlier on Khudobin made a great save off Mike Hoffman at the tail end of a two-on-one rush and then caught a break as Curtis Lazar lost control of the puck after getting Khudobin down and out on another two-on-one.It didnt take the Senators long to respond as Ceci scored 4:39 into the second period.Erik Condra took a shot the Khudobin stopped but he let out a huge rebound that Ceci caught up to and fired into an empty net as he was following up on the play.There was an ugly incident not long after as Eric Staal caught Senators defenceman Jared Cowen in the mouth with his stick as he took a full swing at a puck that was on its way down following a high bounce.Staal took a double minor as Cowen left the ice with a bloodied mouth, although he did return to the game.Notes- Chris Phillips and Colin Greening were scratches for the Senators. Andrej Nestrasil, John-Michael Liles and Alexander Semin were scratches for the Hurricanes…Anderson played in his 400th NHL game Saturday and 187th with the Senators…The Hurricanes have earned at least one point in 15 of their past 18 games against the Senators…Alexander Semin has just one goal and eight points in 26 games this season after signing a one-year contract in July with the Hurricanes worth US$7 million. ' ' '