Le Tour Stage 2

As expected stage 2 ended in another exciting sprint, but the surprising part was who won the stage and who he beat - Gert Steegmans over Tornado Tom.

This flat stage across parts of Belgium looked to be a perfect opportunity for the Quickstep to flex in front of the home crowd. I haven't seen the video from the finish but it sounds like either Boonen didn't hit it quite hard enough or that he gave the stage to Steegmans. At least that second explanation is the one they're going with. In the end Tom took over the green jersey from McEwen and it remains to be seen whether he can hold onto it before the tour hits the Alps.

Meanwhile several riders appeared injured in the crash that happened just inside 3km to go-Cancellara being chief among them but perhaps more importantly given who they support Freddy Rodriguez and George Hincapie looked pretty banged up as well.


General Classification
1 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC 8.36.13
2 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 0.13
3 David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval - Prodir 0.21
4 George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 0.23
5 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone
6 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 0.25
7 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep - Innergetic 0.26
8 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne
9 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 0.29
10 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana 0.30