Tour de France: German Andrei Greipel wins second stage

Andrei Greipel

German cyclist Andrei Greipel emerged victorious in the second stage of the Tour de France. After Rohan Dennis had won the first stage, the 32-year-old Greipel conquered the 166 kms stretch along the Dutch coast with a time of 3 hours 29 mins and 3 seconds.

In the overall standings, Trek Factory Racing star Fabian Cancellara took the yellow jersey from Dennis with a lead of 3 seconds over second-placed Tony Martin of Etixx – Quik-Step. Defending champion, Team Astana’s Vincenzo Nibali is 33rd on the list a good 2 mins and 9 seconds behind Cancellara.

2013 Tour winner Team Sky’s Chris Froome gained time on the leaders by finishing 7th in the second stage in Zeeland. He is now 10th in the list with a time of 3 hours 44 mins and 49 seconds.

The 30-year-old British cyclist thanked his teammates and talked about the windy conditions at the race.

“I'm really thankful to my team-mates for keeping me in front, especially when that split happened,” the BBC reported Froome as saying.

“It was chaos out there for a few minutes, with the storm, with the winds. One second Nibali was next to me so I couldn't believe it when he was distanced.”

Team Tinkoff-Saxo cyclist Alberto Contador, the two-time champion of the Tour, is 13th overall, exactly a minute behind the leader. Mark Cavendish finished 4th in the second stage behind Greiper, Peter Sagan and Cancellara.

The cyclist from Isle of Man admitted he is disappointed to not win the second stage.

“The day Cancellara beats me in a sprint I've gone too long. I've gassed it,” Cavendish said as reported by the BBC.

“I think Mark [Renshaw] went too early and kind of left me hanging. We died. It's disappointing, Tony's disappointed.”

The race now moves to Belgium for the third stage, which will take place from Antwerp to Huy. The third stage, which will take place on Monday, will be 159.5 kms or 99.1 miles long.

Second stage results:

1. Andre Greipel – Lotto Soudal
2. Peter Sagan – Tinkoff-Saxo Same time
3. Fabian Cancellara – Trek Factory Racing
4. Mark Cavendish – Etixx - Quick-Step
5. Daniel Oss – BMC Racing Team
6. Greg Van Avermaet – BMC Racing Team
7. Christopher Froome – Team Sky
8. Tom Dumoulin – Team Giant-Alpecin
9. Tony Martin – Etixx - Quick-Step
10. Warren Barguil – Team Giant-Alpecin

Overall standings:

1. Fabian Cancellara – Trek Factory Racing: 3:44:01
2. Tony Martin – Etixx - Quick-Step: +3 seconds
3. Tom Dumoulin – Team Giant-Alpecin: +6 seconds
4. Peter Sagan – Tinkoff-Saxo: +33 seconds
5. Geraint Thomas – Team Sky: +35 seconds
6. Daniel Oss – BMC Racing Team: +42 seconds
7. Rigoberto Uran – Etixx - Quick-Step: +42 seconds
8. Tejay Van Garderen – BMC Racing Team: +44 seconds
9. Greg Van Avermaet – BMC Racing Team +48 seconds
10. Chris Froome – Team Sky: +48 seconds