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"
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