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Tour de France Prologue and Stage 2 Recap

The Tour de France started this weekend and we’ve seen two stages take place already. The return of the Prologue time trial has allowed the general classification to receive an instant shake-up and just like previous years, Fabian Cancellara has found himself in the yellow jersey early on.

Tour de France Prologue

The Prologue was won by Aussie Rohan Dennis, who stormed through holding off Tony Martin by 5 seconds with Fabian Cancellara 6 seconds back and home favourite Tom Dumoulin 8 seconds back. Dumoulin had been a great hope for the Dutch to get their first yellow jersey in 25 years, an epic wait that seems unexplainable given the popularity of cycling in Holland and the amount of quality riders coming through.

Yellow Jersey Tour de France icon

In the potential GC battle, Wilco Kelderman came first, finishing 10 seconds ahead of Rigoberto Uran. French favourite Thubaut Pinot was only a second behind, TJ van Garderen a further second back and Vincenzo Nibali two more to lead the big four. Chris Froome, Alejandro Valverde, Alberto Contador and Nairo Quintana lost a bit more time but the biggest loser was Romain Bardet, losing a full minute on the other GC contenders.

Top 5

1 – Rohan Dennis
2 – Tony Martin 0.05
3 – Fabian Cancellara 0.06
4 – Tom Dumoulin 0.08
5 – Jos Van Emden 0.15

Tour de France Stage 2 – Utrecht to Neeltje Jans

2015 Andre Greipel TDF Stage 2 Sprint Victory

This almost pancake flat stage was ear-marked for a bunch sprint finish, but the winds on the coast and a number of crashes meant that a front group emerged and stayed away until the finish.

The sprint was won by Andre Greipel ahead of Peter Sagan, Fabian Cancellara and Mark Cavendish. The bonus seconds for coming in 3rd allowed Fabian Cancellara to take the yellow jersey from Rohan Dennis who finished in the bunch who finished 1 minute and 28 seconds behind. Another large group finished 5 minutes back and contained Dutch riders Wilco Kelderman and Laurens ten Dam, Pierre Rolland, Ryder Hesjedal and Simon Yates. Their GC chances and probably top ten chances now all but over.

Yellow Jersey Tour de France icon

Top 5


1 – Fabian Cancellara
2 – Tony Martin 0.03
3 – Tom Dumoulin 0.06
4 – Peter Sagan 0.33
5 – Geraint Thomas 0.35

8 – Tejay Van Garderen 0.44
10 – Chris Froome 0.48
14 – Alberto Contador 1.00
31 – Thibaut Pinot 2.07
33 – Vincenzo Nibali 2.09
39 – Alejandro Valverde 2.22
41 – Jean Christophe Peraud 2.25
44 – Nairo Quintana 2.27

Sprinter Jersey Tour de France icon Green

Greipel’s victory meant that he took on the Green Jersey ahead of favourite Peter Sagan. The stage finish on the Muur de Huy in Stage 3 shouldn’t influence this standing too much.

Top 5

Polka Dot Jersey Tour de France icon King of the Mountains

With no KoM points on offer so far, we’ll see the jersey take an owner in Stage 3.