Maurizio De Pasquale of the Linda McCartney Pro Cycling Team scored a brilliant first victory for his new team when he took Stage 2 of the Rapport Tour of South Africa today. There was double joy for the team when Olympic Champion Pascal Richard made it a 1-2 for the Linda McCartney squad.

"A fantastic day!" was team manager Sean Yates' reaction at the finish near Capetown. "We've torn the race apart. We've had the Tour de France big boys like Telekom and Saeco back on the ropes and down on the canvas today."

The aggressive riding by Linda McCartney saw "wunderkind" Jan Ullrich and his Telekom teammate Alberto Elli in particular take a terrible pasting. Elli was the overnight leader of the race, having won Saturday's opening stage. Today he paid dearly, as he was first left struggling by a blistering attack from McCartney's Max Sciandri, then flattened by the De Pasquale/Richard combination punch on the final climb to the line.

It was a difficult day, as the wind was blowing so hard on the coastal roads around the Cape that the stage was in danger of cancellation. It was also very hot, though the riders were not always fully aware of the temperature with the strong wind blowing across them. There were many casualties of the conditions, with dropped riders limping into the finish in ones and twos far behind the victorious McCartneys.

Max Sciandri and Pascal Richard featured when the race began to hot up before the day's first climb. They initiated a dangerous break that caused panic among the ranks of Telekom riders behind. The break swelled to around 40 riders, with Sean Yates extremely pleased to see all six of his men making the split, the only manager who could make such a claim.

As the race crested the top of the hill, Max Sciandri launched one of his trademark attacks, striking out for the finish alone, with 40kms and three more big climbs to overcome.

Behind, second placed rider Tobias Steinhauser of Gerolsteiner sensed that Elli was struggling to stay in contention following Sciandri's escape. Steinhauser's team, spotting an opportunity to put the boot into Telekom, their German rivals, sent all their men to the front in pursuit of Max, with Elli in all sorts of trouble. The fierce coastal winds and the baking heat were beginning to take their toll on Max, and his brave effort finally came to an end as he turned on to the final 7km climb to the line. But the whole Linda McCartney team were absolutely determined to get something out of the day, and Olympic Champion Pascal Richard demonstrated his great winter training by blasting out of the bunch on the early slopes.

"Another guy tried to get across to Pascal, so I jumped on to his wheel," explained Maurizio De Pasquale. "He got about halfway across the gap and then 'blew', so I jumped round him and on to Pascal on my own."

Their team strength had left Linda McCartney with two riders clear of the field in the last 2kms.

"Maurizio was going like an express train. It was marvellous," said Pascal. "I stayed with him for a little while, but he was going so well I shouted "go, go," to him and he went on his own to win."

Maurizio celebrated in style at the finish, 14 seconds clear of Pascal and 22 seconds ahead of the rest. Linda McCartney had pulled off their first win of the season, and a flamboyant hill-top 1-2 at that. 1997 Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich was left floundering at nearly five minutes. The audacious attacking by Linda McCartney had given Gerolsteiner the springboard to crucify the German superstar's teammate Alberto Elli and place their own man Steinhauser in the leader's jersey.

Another spin-off from the day's wonderful spoils was still to come. Max Sciandri has moved to second in the King of the Mountains competition after his great ride had split the race wide open.

So, a first victory for 2000 then, and a very stylish one at that.