Tour de France - Stage 2 Back to news items

The second stage of the Tour led the riders from Visé to Tournai. As could be expected the stage ended with a bunch sprint. Mark Cavendish beat André Greipel by half a wheel.

Morkov, Kern and Roux chose to go in the attack. For most of the day Francis De Greef was riding on the head of the peloton. Today the team wanted to give everything for André Greipel. The intermediate sprint lay at 54km from the finish line. Greipel decided not to take part in it and to put everything on the final sprint.

At 14km from the end all three escapees were already caught. The riders of Lotto Belisol were making a strong impression and gathered themselves in front of the peloton. The train of André Greipel was put on the rails. First it was Marcel Sieberg's turn, then birthday boy Jürgen Roelandts took over. Greg Henderson, the last man, increased the pace. André Greipel took over swiftly, but was beaten by world champion Mark Cavendish by half a wheel.