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excerpts from Le Tour
Greipel strikes in Zealand, Cancellara moves into the lead
Stage 2 will make history in the 102nd Tour de France. Contested like a Spring classic in windy and wet conditions, it created significant differences between hot favorites for the overall classification. Chris Froome and Alberto Contador made the front group in which André Greipel proved to be the fastest against Peter Sagan and Mark Cavendish while Fabian Cancellara, third, moved into the lead. Vincenzo Nibali and Nairo Quintana lost 1.28.
Armindo Fonseca (Bretagne-Séché Environnement) was the first attacker of the Tour de France as soon as race director Christian Prudhomme flagged off at the exit of Utrecht where 198 riders took the start of stage 2. Perrig Quémeneur (Europcar), Jan Barta (Bora-Argon 18) and Stef Clement (IAM Cycling) rejoined him. They got a maximum advantage of 2.45 at km 28 while Etixx-Quick Step took control of the chase straight away. Passed km 50, gusts of wind inspired Tinkoff-Saxo to create echelons. Until the intermediate sprint at Rotterdam (km 80.5), there was a lot of action, with the likes of Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Bauke Mollema (Trek) temporarily in trouble.
Nibali, Quintana and many more in a pitfall
Barta rode away solo in the streets of Rotterdam to win the intermediate sprint. The race was bunched up with 62km to go, preceding a series of accelerations. With 50km to go, the peloton was split into pieces. 26 riders including Chris Froome, Alberto Contador, Tejay van Garderen, Peter Sagan, Mark Cavendish, André Greipel, Tony Martin and Fabian Cancellara composed a front group while many top contenders couldn’t avoid the pitfall. Vincenzo Nibali, Nairo Quintana, Thibaut Pinot and yellow jersey holder Rohan Dennis were forced to chase. Nibali had a flat tyre with 25km to go but made it back into the chasing group. Despite the combination of forces, they never came across to the leaders and conceded 1.28 on the finishing line.
Greipel faster than Cavendish
As Etixx-Quick Step outnumbered the other teams in the front group, Cavendish looked in the best position for the sprint on the causeway in Neeltje Jans but Marcel Sieberg led Greipel out at perfection and the German claimed his seventh stage victory at the Tour de France ahead of Peter Sagan. The Slovakian had a flat tire with 12km to go but managed to be back in the first group. Third on the line, Fabian Cancellara deprived Tony Martin of the yellow jersey through the time bonus. He leads the Tour de France for the 29th time.
Stage 2 Results GER 1 GREIPEL, André (LOTTO SOUDAL) 3:29:03 SVK 2 SAGAN, Peter (TINKOFF – SAXO) SUI 3 CANCELLARA, Fabian (TREK FACTORY RACING) GBR 4 CAVENDISH, Mark (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) ITA 5 OSS, Daniel (BMC RACING) BEL 6 VAN AVERMAET, Greg (BMC RACING) GBR 7 FROOME, Christopher (SKY) NED 8 DUMOULIN, Tom (GIANT – ALPECIN) GER 9 MARTIN, Tony (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) FRA 10 BARGUIL, Warren (GIANT – ALPECIN) USA 11 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (BMC RACING) + 4 GBR 12 THOMAS, Geraint (SKY) ESP 13 CONTADOR VELASCO, Alberto (TINKOFF – SAXO) COL 14 URAN URAN, Rigoberto (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) FRA 15 GALLOPIN, Tony (LOTTO SOUDAL) AUS 16 RENSHAW, Mark (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) GER 17 SIEBERG, Marcel (LOTTO SOUDAL) CZE 18 KREUZIGER, Roman (TINKOFF – SAXO) SUI 19 SCHÄR, Michael (BMC RACING) + 8 AUS 20 ROGERS, Michael (TINKOFF – SAXO) ITA 21 QUINZIATO, Manuel (BMC RACING) + 11 CZE 22 STYBAR, Zdenek (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) GBR 23 STANNARD, Ian (SKY) POL 24 KWIATKOWSKI, Michal (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) + 15 USA 25 FARRAR, Tyler (MTN – QHUBEKA) + 1:28 FRA 26 SOUPE, Geoffrey (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) NZL 27 BAUER, Jack (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) NED 28 GESINK, Robert (LOTTO NL – JUMBO) ITA 29 POZZATO, Filippo (LAMPRE – MERIDA) FRA 30 LAPORTE, Christophe (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) POR 31 FARIA DA COSTA, Rui Alberto (LAMPRE – MERIDA) NED 32 SINKELDAM, Ramon (GIANT – ALPECIN) FRA 33 ROY, Jérémy (FDJ) BEL 34 PAUWELS, Serge (MTN – QHUBEKA) NZL 35 HENDERSON, Greg (LOTTO SOUDAL) SUI 36 FRANK, Mathias (IAM CYCLING) FRA 37 LADAGNOUS, Matthieu (FDJ) NED 38 CURVERS, Roy (GIANT – ALPECIN) FRA 39 PERAUD, Jean-Christophe (AG2R LA MONDIALE) SUI 40 MORABITO, Steve (FDJ) ITA 41 MALORI, Adriano (MOVISTAR) IRL 42 MARTIN, Daniel (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) FRA 43 DEMARE, Arnaud (FDJ) ESP 44 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Joaquin (KATUSHA) FRA 45 BARDET, Romain (AG2R LA MONDIALE) POL 46 GOLAS, Michal (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) FRA 47 PINOT, Thibaut (FDJ) BEL 48 BAKELANTS, Jan (AG2R LA MONDIALE) ITA 49 NIBALI, Vincenzo (ASTANA) ESP 50 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR)
General Classification after Stage 2 SUI 1 CANCELLARA, Fabian (TREK FACTORY RACING) 3:44:01 GER 2 MARTIN, Tony (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) + 3 NED 3 DUMOULIN, Tom (GIANT – ALPECIN) + 6 SVK 4 SAGAN, Peter (TINKOFF – SAXO) + 33 GBR 5 THOMAS, Geraint (SKY) + 35 ITA 6 OSS, Daniel (BMC RACING) + 42 COL 7 URAN URAN, Rigoberto (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) USA 8 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (BMC RACING) + 44 BEL 9 VAN AVERMAET, Greg (BMC RACING) + 48 GBR 10 FROOME, Christopher (SKY)
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