Germany’s Andre Greipel (right) sprints to win ahead of Slovakia’s Peter Sagan (left) at the end of the second stage of the 102nd Tour de France yesterday. (AFP)
AFP/Zeeland, Netherlands
Andre Greipel won the second stage of the Tour de France on Sunday as reigning champion Vincenzo Nibali and fellow favourite Nairo Quintana lost time.
Greipel edged out Peter Sagan by a fraction of a wheel length at the end of the 166km stage from Utrecht to Zeeland in the Netherlands.
Fabian Cancellara took third and four bonus seconds to snare the yellow jersey off Australia’s Rohan Dennis.
Tony Martin, who started the day in second, one place and one second ahead of Cancellara, could only finish ninth and now trails the Swiss Trek rider by three seconds, with Tom Dumoulin third overall at 6sec.
But it was crashes and crosswinds in driving rain that made the real difference as Chris Froome, the 2013 champion, and twice winner Alberto Contador put significant time into Nibali and Quintana.
After a four-man breakaway of Czech Jan Barta, Stef Clement of the Netherlands and Frenchmen Perrig Quemeneur and Armindo Fonseca was reeled in within the first 100km, the next 10km saw the main drama take place.
Already 60km into the race the crosswinds created the first split in the peloton, with former world champion Rui Costa of Portugal and former Vuelta a Espana winner Alejandro Valverde caught out.
They got back up to the front group but crashes, a searing pace and the inclement weather from 60km to 50km to go saw first Quintana and then Nibali also left behind.
Quintana’s group quickly lost a minute while Nibali was caught in no-man’s land in a small group that, while just 20sec off the front peloton, didn’t have enough manpower to close the gap.
At the front Etixx-Quick Step were driving the peloton in the hope of setting up Mark Cavendish for a 26th Tour stage win.
With around 35km left and clearing skies, Nibali’s group was caught by Quintana’s and then their Astana and Movistar teams, along with some help from French hope Thibaut Pinot’s FDJ teammates, led the chase.
Dennis was caught in this group and with his BMC team leader Tejay Van Garderen in the lead bunch, he could count on no help to close the gap.
But up front there were riders pushing the pace with the stage win in mind while Froome and Contador’s teammates helped out from time to time to ensure they profited most from the situation.
Italian Nibali’s nightmare day continued as he punctured 25km from home but the 30-year-old quickly fought his way back up to the chase group, with a little help from the slipstream of the team cars.
It all left Froome in 10th overall, 48sec behind Cancellara and 8sec ahead of Contador.
Nibali, who started the day 7sec up on Froome, is now 1min 20sec behind with Quintana another 18sec further adrift.
Pinot and Jean-Christophe Peraud, the other two podium finishers from last year, also lost time, along with another overall contender Romain Bardet.
Today’s third stage takes the peloton 157km from Antwerp in Belgium to the brutal uphill finish at the Mur de Huy, where a few seconds could be gained.
Stage two results (top ten)
1. Andre Greipel (GER/LOT) 3:29.03
2. Peter Sagan (SVK/TIN) +0:00
3. Fabian Cancellara (SUI/TRE) +0:00
4. Mark Cavendish (GBR/ETI) +0:00
5. Daniel Oss (ITA/BMC) +0:00
6. Greg Van Avermaet (BEL/BMC) +0:00
7. Chris Froome (GBR/SKY) +0:00
8. Tom Dumoulin (NED/GIA) +0:00
9. Tony Martin (GER/ETI) +0:00
10. Warren Barguil (FRA/GIA) +0:00
Overall standings (top ten)
1. Fabian Cancellara (SUI/TRE) 3:44.01
2. Tony Martin (GER/ETI) +0:03
3. Tom Dumoulin (NED/GIA) +0:06
4. Peter Sagan (SVK/TIN) +0:33
5. Geraint Thomas (GBR/SKY) +0:35
6. Daniel Oss (ITA/BMC) +0:42
7. Rigoberto Uran (COL/ETI) +0:42
8. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/BMC) +0:44
9. Greg Van Avermaet (BEL/BMC) +0:48
10. Chris Froome (GBR/SKY) +0:48
