Tour de France Stage 2: Chavanel takes yellow as peloton protests conditions

Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel of Belgian team Quick Step claimed the yellow jersey in Stage 2 of the Tour de France this afternoon in Spa, showing himself to be the strongest survivor of an eight-man breakaway, as once again a series of crashes caused chaos in the peloton.

Some of the biggest names  in the race hit the tarmac on a slippery descent of the Col de Stockeu including both the Schleck brothers and Lance Armstrong as well as Christian Vande Velde and green jersey Alessandro Petacchi, while Alberto Contador was also held up amid the confusion.

With the main group not contesting the sprint as they headed towards the line shortly after Chavanel, it was clear that the riders weren’t happy with the conditions that have seen the opening two road stages of this year’s Tour marred by chutes.

Whereas yesterday the crashes were caused by massive crowds sometimes spilling onto the road and jostling for position as the final sprint approached, today it was wet roads as the peloton headed through the Ardennes that did the damage.

The chutes caused some big gaps to open up on the road, with a group containing Contador and Armstrong struggling to bridge the gap back to that containing yellow jersey Fabian Cancellara, which they did with some 15km to go.

Behind them, Team Saxo Bank siblings, Fränk and Andy Schleck, both of whom also crashed on slippery roads during a descent, appeared to have suffered a big blow to their general classification chances, with the pair having to fight hard to rejoin the other main contenders.

However, helped back by a sterling effort by Jens Voigt and with Cancellara, also of Team Saxo Bank, of course, apparently following consultation with white jersey wearer Tony Martin of HTC Columbia helping slow the pace down at the front of the bunch, the Luxembourg pair got themselves back into the main group, although the effort of doing so may well have consequences tomorrow.

Top 20 Tour de France Stage 2

1.  CHAVANEL Sylvain        QUICK STEP             4h 40' 48"
2.  BOUET Maxime            AG2R LA MONDIALE        + 03' 56"
3.  WEGMANN Fabian          TEAM MILRAM             + 03' 56"
4.  McEWEN Robbie           KATUSHA TEAM            + 03' 56"
5.  KNEES Christian         TEAM MILRAM             + 03' 56"
6.  ROELANDTS Jürgen        OMEGA PHARMA-LOTTO      + 03' 56"
7.  HUSHOVD Thor            CERVELO TEST TEAM       + 03' 56"
8.  GERDEMANN Linus         TEAM MILRAM             + 03' 56"
9.  LADAGNOUS Matthieu      FDJ                     + 03' 56"
10. EISEL Bernhard          TEAM HTC-COLUMBIA       + 03' 56"
11. MORENO FERNANDEZ Daniel OMEGA PHARMA - LOTTO    + 03' 56"
12. CANCELLARA Fabian       TEAM SAXO BANK          + 03' 56"
13. KROON Karsten           BMC RACING TEAM         + 03' 56"
14. VAN SUMMEREN Johan      GARMIN-TRANSITIONS      + 03' 56"
15. ROJAS Jose Joaquin      CAISSE D’EPARGNE        + 03' 56"
16. PAUWELS Serge           SKY PRO CYCLING         + 03' 56"
17. HUNT Jérémy             CERVELO TEST TEAM       + 03' 56"
18. VANDENBERGH Styn        KATUSHA TEAM            + 03' 56"
19. KREUZIGER Roman         LIQUIGAS-DOIMO          + 03' 56"
20. MAASKANT Martijn        GARMIN - TRANSITIONS    + 03' 56"

General Classification after Stage 2

1.   CHAVANEL Sylvain       QUICK STEP             10h 01' 25"
2.   CANCELLARA Fabian      TEAM SAXO BANK           + 02' 57"
3.   MARTIN Tony            TEAM HTC-COLUMBIA        + 03' 07"
4.   MILLAR David           GARMIN-TRANSITIONS       + 03' 17"
5.   ARMSTRONG Lance        TEAM RADIOSHACK          + 03' 19"
6.   THOMAS Geraint         SKY PRO CYCLING          + 03' 20"
7.   CONTADOR Alberto       ASTANA                   + 03' 24"
8.   LEIPHEIMER Levi        TEAM RADIOSHACK          + 03' 25"
9.   BOASSON HAGEN Edvald   SKY PRO CYCLING          + 03' 29"
10.  GERDEMANN Linus        TEAM MILRAM              + 03' 32"
11.  BOOKWALTER Brent       BMC RACING TEAM          + 03' 32"
12.  BRAJKOVIC Janez        TEAM RADIOSHACK          + 03' 32"
13.  ROGERS Michael         TEAM HTC - COLUMBIA      + 03' 32"
14.  PLAZA MOLINA Ruben     CAISSE D’EPARGNE         + 03' 33"
15.  KLÖDEN Andréas         TEAM RADIOSHACK          + 03' 33"
16.  VINOKOUROV Alexandre   ASTANA                   + 03' 35"
17.  KREUZIGER Roman        LIQUIGAS-DOIM+             03' 35"
18.  SANCHEZ Luis-Leon      CAISSE D’EPARGN+           03' 36"
19.  EVANS Cadel            BMC RACING TEAM          + 03' 36"
20.  GRIVKO Andriy          ASTANA                   + 03' 37"