Movistar rider Valverde finished safely in the main bunch alongside his main rivals to remain 15 seconds clear of Colombian team mate Nairo Quintana in general classification with Tinkoff-Saxo's Spaniard Alberto Contador three seconds back in third.

Britain's Chris Froome sits fourth overall 20 seconds off the lead as the main contenders battled some strong crosswinds in the final 30 kilometres of the 207km stage which forced a series of splits in the peloton.

Giro d'Italia winner Quintana had looked like he was going to lose valuable time on his rivals when a 15-second gap opened up with 11km to go but Giant-Shimano's efforts to put their main sprinter John Degenkolb in contention for the stage win saw them drag Quintana's group right back up with the leading pack five kilometres out.

With 800 metres left to the line, German Degenkolb was right in contention for his third stage win but was caught out by Bouhanni as he launched his final assault at the 300m mark to power to the front of the pack.

The FDJ.fr rider was followed by Orica-GreenEdge's Matthews, also chasing a second stage  win on this year's race, while Cannondale's Peter Sagan finally flashed his teeth at the business end of a stage as they pursued Bouhanni.

The riders powered to the line but it was the Frenchman who held on by a wheel from Matthews to claim the victory with Degenkolb and New Zealand's Greg Henderson completing the top five behind Slovakian Sagan.

Bouhanni timed his attack to perfection as he held on to pip Matthews and Sagan at the line ©AFP/Getty Images



"I started my sprint from 300m out despite the headwind because I didn't want to get boxed in," said Bouhanni, who revealed that he came close to abandoning the race a few days ago suffering from sunstroke.

"Usually, that's too far out for me but I had good legs today.

"I was a bit surprised I could win.

"It was a hard stage, very nervous when the bunch started to split up.

"My team did a great job to help me stay in good position.

"I've won twice in a week, so I am happy."

The first week ends with arguably the hardest stage of the race so far, and the second summit finish tomorrow.

The 185km trek from Carboneras de Guadazon finishes with an eight kilometres climb to Aramon Valdelinares.

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