Organisers were forced to alter the 194 kilometre route from La Seu d'Urgell to Igualada in Spain, with snow having fallen across a mountainous part of the course.

Although a number of ascents were removed when the stage was reduced to 134km, the sprinters still faced a difficult challenge if they were to battle for a stage win, with several climbs remaining.

A five man breakaway group sought to make their challenge even greater, with Spain’s Diego Rubio among the move in front of a home crowd.

But their effort would ultimately prove futile as the peloton reduced their advantage, which had peaked over three minutes, before catching the break before the final climb at Turo del Puig.

Italy’s Dario Cataldo and Denmark’s Jakob Fuglsang attempted attacks inside the final 18km, while France’s Romain Bardet and Ireland’s Dan Martin also tried to escape on the ascent.

Their efforts also proved unsuccessful though, as did a potentially strong move on the descent which featured Britain’s Chris Froome and Spain’s Alejandro Valverde, the winner of yesterday’s stage.

The speed on the final climb had removed several sprinters from contention, including Germany’s Andre Greipel, but Bouhanni was among those to survive.

He would seize his chance in the final metres, with the Cofidis rider sprinting past Italy’s Davide Cimolai to gain revenge for his stage one defeat.

Bouhanni led the peloton across the line in a time of 3 hours 4min and 27sec.

Race leader Tejay Van Garderen was among those in the front group, with the American preserving his advantage in the general classification.

The BMC Racing rider is 41sec in front of Spain’s Samuel Sanchez, while Britain’s Geraint Thomas is a further three seconds behind.

Valverde, whose Movistar team were all docked one minute by commissaries for an illegal push in the team time trial, is 45sec off the lead in fourth.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) WorldTour race will continue tomorrow with a potentially pivotal 182km mountain stage from Valls to Lo Port.