Astana rider Vincenzo Nibali grabbed the win in stage 2 of Le Tour De France, taking him to the top of general classification. In addition to winning the yellow jersey, the Italian national champion took his team up to second position, now trailing behind team Sky by 12 seconds.
Overnight leader Marcel Kittel of Giant-Shimano struggled with the stage's nine arduous climbs, resulting in a serious drop down in the rankings, whilst former Tour winner Chris Froome finished in 19th position, and is now currently 5th in general classification.
From the historic starting point of York to the ending point in Sheffield 201km away, Stage 2 of this year's tour wasn't short for entertainment. There was one noticable difference from the opening stage, in that Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) was not on his bike, but instead being interviewed with his arm in a sling. The rapid Manx rider was forced to pull out of the race after a traumatic crash at the end of yesterday's stage left him with a serious shoulder injury.
A group of breakaway riders was formed almost imediately, consisting of Busche (Trek Factory Racing), Kadri (AG2R), Quemeneur (Team Europcar), David De La Cruz Melgarejo (Team NetApp-Endura), Fonseca (Bretagne) and Lemoine (Cofidis). Bart de Clerq of Lotto-Belisol soon joined them to make a 7 man club. This body kept a lead of around 2 minutes for the majority of the race.
Giant-Shimano spearheaded the peloton, aiding Marcel Kittel, with an ambition to maintain the yellow jersey. This desire didn't last however, as the German sprinter suffered from a minor crash, and was eventually dropped by the peloton on Holme Moss in the advanced section of the stage.
As stated above, today's stage featured nine classified ascents, giving the riders nine chances to take king of the mountain points. Lemoine of Cofidis took maximum points on 3 of the climbs, and more points on various others, giving him a point advantage in mountains classification. He is followed by Kadri (AG2R) and Voigt (Trek).
Only one intermediate sprint took place on Stage 2, 68.5km in. It saw Kadri take maximum points, while David De La Cruz Melgarejo came second to pick up 17, and Quemeneur gained 15.
The final leg of the stage saw Nibali break from the peloton with enthusiasm, closely looked by the likes of Contador and Froome who were thinking of following the Italian. In the end, Nibali won by a comfortable margin, seeing Van Avermaet (BMC) and Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) follow behind.