Ruben Faria
© AFP/File Damien Meyer

ALCOUTIM, Portugal (AFP) - Faria clocked 1hr 37min 7sec during the 115km timed section Sunday in the stretch from Portimao to Alcoutim in Portugal.

He finished ahead of Spain's Esteve Pujol by 1min 7sec with David Casteu of France at 1:28.

Although Faria finished second in the first stage, he has not gained the overall lead because he was given a 12-minute penalty on Saturday for not finishing the complete 370km stage within the time limit.

Pujol in fact leads overall by eight seconds from another Spaniard Marc Coma and by 43sec from Portugal's Helder Rodrigues.

Following the timed section, the competitors must travel to Malaga in southern Spain to complete the day's 567km stage.

From Malaga, they have a seven-hour boat trip to Morocco for Monday's 672km third stage, between Nador and Er Rachidia, with a 314km timed section.

© 2006 AFP. All rights of reproduction and distribution reserved. All information displayed on this section (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.