Volta a Catalunya: Chris Froome loses time to Alejandro Valverde on stage two

Chris Froome lost 46 seconds on Volta a Catalunya rival Alejandro Valverde as the Spaniard's Movistar team won stage two's team time trial.

Movistar completed the 43.3km course to Banyoles two seconds faster than BMC, with Briton Froome's Team Sky in third.

The Trek-Segafredo team of Spain's Alberto Contador, another favourite for overall victory, was one minute 15 seconds behind.

Valverde leads the seven-stage Spanish race after a penalty to a team-mate.

Jose Joaquin Rojas had been declared the new race leader but was later punished with a three-minute time penalty for "pushing a team-mate", race organisers said.

Wednesday's third stage is an 188.3km ride from Mataro that features three category one climbs on the way to La Molina.

"It's a first big effort back at a Pro Tour level this season," said Froome, now 18th in the overall standings.

"We'll see what we can do in the next few days. Hopefully we've got a few cards to play, with La Molina tomorrow and a big mountain-top finish on Friday.

"We're not the only ones who __have lost time, so it might be in all of our interests to ride an aggressive race. Hopefully we'll light things up at some point."

Stage Two result:

1. Movistar (Spain) 48mins 55secs

2. BMC Racing (United States) +2secs

3. Team Sky (Britain) +46secs

4. Trek (United States) +1min 15secs

5. Orica (Australia) +1min 24secs

6. FDJ (France) +1min 44secs

7. LottoNL (Netherlands) +1min 48secs

8. Astana (Kazakhstan) +2mins 5secs

9. Lotto (Belgium) +2mins 10secs

10. Quick-Step (Belgium) +2mins 13secs

General classification:

1. Alejandro Valverde (Spain / Movistar) 5hrs 17mins 16secs

2. Ruben Fernandez (Spain / Movistar) Same time

3. Imanol Erviti (Spain / Movistar)

4. Marc Soler (Spain / Movistar)

5. Jonathan Castroviejo (Spain / Movistar)

6. Ben Hermans (Belgium / BMC Racing) +2secs

7. Brent Bookwalter (U.S. / BMC Racing) Same time

8. Tejay van Garderen (U.S. / BMC Racing)

9. Rohan Dennis (Australia / BMC Racing)

10. Kilian Franikiny (Switzerland / BMC Racing)

British standings:

13. Geraint Thomas (Britain / Team Sky) +46secs

14. Peter Kennaugh (Britain / Team Sky) Same time

18. Chris Froome (Britain / Team Sky)

27. Adam Yates (Britain / Orica) +1min 24secs