Tour de France: Stage 2

Well, now we’re into the real stages of the Tour.  It’s still early, so the GC contenders are holding back and just making sure they don’t lose any time.  There weren’t any changes in the yellow jersey competition, as today was a day for the sprinters. 

We saw the standard flat-stage breakaway, it never got farther than 5:00 ahead, and the peloton easily reeled it in, leaving a group sprint finish.

Mark Cavendish showed again that he’s the fastest sprinter in the world, winning easily over American Tyler Farrar.  Hopefully this year he’ll make it all the way to Paris, rather than wussing out early.

The biggest surprise of the finish wasn’t that Cavendish won, but that other green jersey hopefuls like Tom Boonen and Thor Hushovd were nowhere to be seen at the finish (although Boonen was apparently sick).

As for Astana, we didn’t see any changes for them, and we likely won’t until the mountains, unless Kloden or Leipheimer make it into a big breakaway and throw a wrench into everything.

The flat stages are great, but I can’t wait until we finally make it into the mountains. 

Rider of the Day

Obviously, Mark Cavendish.  The question wasn’t whether or not he’d win a stage this year, but how many he would win.  Today, he made a lot of people start speculating about how high that number could go.  He got a perfect lead-out and breezed to the finish. 

Cavendish seems to have a knack for finding the finish line first, like Robbie McEwen a few years ago.

Reasons I Love the #2 - Sprint Finishes

When I first started watching the Tour de France, I wasn’t a big fan of the sprint finishes.  As I learned more about the tactics that go into leading a rider out for a finish, I began to like them more.  It’s always exciting when there are only a few seconds left in the stage and you have no idea who is going to win. 

I love watching someone begin a sprint to early, only to be caught before the finish line.  In these early stages, hopefully we’ll see a lot more great sprint finishes.