Geraint Thomas in the British national champs jersey(Image credit: Hedwig Kröner)
Bob Stapleton talks to the media(Image credit: Hedwig Kröner)
The startline in Rotterdam(Image credit: Hedwig Kröner)
Anthony Geslin (FDJ) check his bike before the start(Image credit: Hedwig Kröner)
A half-dressed Mark Renshaw chats at the start(Image credit: Hedwig Kröner)
Daniel Oss (Liquigas) will aim to keep Ivan Basso out of trouble(Image credit: Hedwig Kröner)
David Millar (Garmin-Transitions) in green having finished third in the prologue(Image credit: Hedwig Kröner)
George Hincapie (BMC)(Image credit: Hedwig Kröner)
FDJ riders gather at the start(Image credit: Hedwig Kröner)
A Cycling Plus fan travelled hundreds of miles to meet the Cyclingnews crew(Image credit: Hedwig Kröner)
Mark Cavendish heads to sign in(Image credit: Hedwig Kröner)
Cadel Evans chats with Cyclingnews before the start(Image credit: Hedwig Kröner)
Tom Boonen visited the race(Image credit: Hedwig Kröner)
After yesterday’s downpour, bright skies and sunshine greeted the peloton on the startline in Rotterdam on Sunday. The peloton were already missing two riders – Mathias Frank (BMC) and Manuel Cardoso (Footon-Servetto) were unable to start due to injuries they’d suffered in yesterday’s prologue – but for the rest of the field 223.5km of racing from Rotterdam to Brussels lay ahead.
Geraint Thomas sported his British road national jersey for the first time and told Cyclingnews that a retro approach involving black shorts was the way forward. Sky will be looking to set up Edvald Boasson Hagen in the expected sprint finish.
However Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitions) and Mark Cavendish will lined up as the favourites for the win. Farrar finished a superb seventh in yesterday’s prologue, while Cavendish won six stages last year and is eager to prove he still has the speed in his legs.
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Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
