Tour de France: Greipel wins storm-swept stage to Neeltje Jans

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As the sunny skies and warm weather of Utrecht gave way to treacherous conditions on the exit from Rotterdam, stage 2 of the Tour de France burst to life. When news came over race radio that Nairo Quintana (Movistar) was in trouble, Etixx-Quick Step put the hammer down and split the race to pieces in the crosswinds.

The stage spoils went to André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) in a bunch sprint after Mark Cavendish led out with 400 metres to go, pipping Peter Sagan at the post. Fabian Cancellara finished third on the stage and took his 29th maillot jaune after Rohan Dennis (BMC) was caught out in the wind and finished in the second group.

For all their work, Etixx-Quick Step ended up empty-handed as Martin missed out on the time bonuses and now sits second on GC, three seconds down on Cancellara.

At 500 metres to go, Mark Renshaw started his lead-out for Cavendish, while Greipel sat on the Manx Missile's wheel and timed his effort to perfection. A puncture with 14km to go proved costly for Sagan, who tired to come around the right of Greipel to no avail as Cavendish, on the left, was drifting backwards.

"I'd like to thank the team for their performance today. This was about teamwork. I feel they were superb. I felt strong and I'm just really happy to have won," Greipel said before climbing on the podium. "Today was a tough day out. We followed a different strategy today, riding hard early on to drop some of my sprint rivals. It worked out well. It was really nervous with all the wind and rain. The team managed to keep me up in the front, and it was a key factor. I'm really happy about my teammates and really proud we won the first stage."

Chris Froome and Alberto Contador made the first group of 26 riders, while behind them Quintana, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) all had their GC ambitions severely dented by the time they crossed the finish line 1:28 down on the front group. Froome is the best placed of the "Fab Four" with a 12 second advantage over Contador, 1:21 over Nibali and 1:36 over Quintana.

A crash on a roundabout as the peloton left Rotterdam and the intermediate sprint involved Nacer Bouhanni and caused the first major split in the peloton. A  26-rider lead group then formed with 57km to go.

Among the leaders were Chris Froome, Ian Stannard, Geraint Thomas (Sky), Alberto Contador, Daniele Bennati, Michael Rogers, Peter Sagan (Tinkoff), Tejay van Garderen, Daniel Oss, Manuel Quinziato, Michael Schär, Greg Van Avermaet, Danilo Wyss (BMC), Tony Gallopin, Andre Greipel, Marcel Sieberg (Lotto-Soudal), Warren Barguil, Tom Dumoulin (Giant), Michal Kwiatkowski, Mark Cavendish, Tony Martin, Mark Renshaw, Zdenek Štybar, Rigoberto Uran (Etixx-QuickStep), Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing), and Kristijan Koren (Cannondale-Garmin).

Behind it was Movistar chasing as they looked to limit the loses of Quintana and Alejandro Valverde, who also had Jean-Christophe Péraud (AG2R), Bauke Mollema (Trek), and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) for company as crashes then the wind wreaked havoc to create the first genuine hierarchy on the general classification in the 2015 Tour de France but one surely to be rearranged after tomorrow's stage to the Mur de Huy.

In what is likely to be his final Tour de France, Cancellara will extend his record of yellow jerseys to 29, having thought his chances to do so had been extinsghuied just 24 hours prior.

"Honestly I was not expecting the yellow today, maybe in the next days, and the big chance on the cobblestone stage," Cancellara said. "Today, I thought it was more for the sprinters. I was coming to the Tour to win and get the yellow yesterday, and I didn’t win yesterday and not today, but I made a nice sprint at the end and I got third and the yellow and that is really a success. It’s always special."

The riders before the storm
Jan Barta (Bora-Argon 18), Stef Clement (IAM Cycling), Perrig Quemeneur (Team Europcar) and Armindo Fonseca (Bretagne-Séché Environnement) had the honour of forming the first breakaway of the 2015 Tour de France as they attacked the second the flag dropped and the peloton giving its approval.

The quartet steadily built a lead over the BMC and Etixx-Quick Step controlled peloton that stabilised at around 40 seconds as the riders settled into a groove. With 102km to go, Etixx put the hammer down to force the first echelons and upset what had otherwise been a tranquil start to the stage.

Tinkoff-Saxo, Sky and Movistar were quick to move to the front as the breakaway saw several seconds shaved away. With the peloton driving hard, the situation on the road saw the quartet holding a 20 second gap over a chasing group, while 20 seconds in arrears, the third group contained the likes of Mollema, Valverde and Thomas Voeckler.

As the peloton made the approach to the sprint point in Rotterdam, the wind was blocked and a moment of calm passed over as riders took advantage to eat and drink. Team Sky, with Peter Kennaugh, decided lunchtime was over and lifted the pace which saw Barta react by attacking the break to win the intermediate sprint and pick up 20 points.

With 11 points available for fifth place, Giant-Alpecin lead out John Degenkolb, who pipped birthday boy Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and Sagan. Cavendish cut his losses to pick up 8 points.

Having been in sight of the peloton at the sprint point, the break splintered as Quemeneur lost pace with Clement and Fonseca who were chasing after Barta. A crash at the rear saw Thomas De Ghent, Wilco Kelderman, and Winner Anacona hit the deck as the inclement weather of the finishing was moving inland.

With 75km to race, Clement and Fonseca reeled in Barta as the skies darkened by the second. The sight of the storm clouds and fresh memory of the crosswinds appeared to unsettle the peloton with a spate of crashes that saw the likes Wilco Kelderman hit the deck.

With 62km to race, it was all over for the break as  the peloton decided the pace was too slow and the opportunity was right to see who was having an off day.

With the pace high and roads soaking, Johan Vansummeren crashed, then images of a mud-caked Adam Hansen flashed across television screens. Etixx-QuickStep, BMC and Tinkoff-Saxo had caused the damage, playing the starring role in the sequel to 2013's Saint-Amand-Montrond.

Inside the final 50km the leading group had established a gap of 48 seconds as Nibali also saw his entire Tour disappear, narrowly avoiding a falling Adam Hansen. With little cohesion in the chase group, Pinot and Nibali came to the fore to set the pace while Dennis tried to enjoy his sole day in the yellow jersey.

With 43km to race and a 40km/h tailwind behind them, the front group was clocked at 57km/h to see the gap move out over one minute. Lotto-Soudal offered their services to drive the front group but with the chasers getting organised the lead hovered around the one minute mark.

Disaster struck for Nibali when he flatted with 24km left to race and was forced to chase back on through the convoy without a single teammate. The defending champion made contact as the gap extended out over one minute.

World champion Michal Kwiatkowski pulled hard for Cavendish, earning the first combativity award of 2015, with the gap moving out over 1:30 in the final 20kms of the race on the approach to the first "off-shore" finish in the Tour's history.

With the second group merely limiting its loses, a sprint showdown between Sagan, Cavendish and Greipel was becoming inevitable, while for Cancellara, Martin and Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) there was a yellow jersey waiting for one of them

Sagan's mechanical with 14km to go, just seconds after Bennati, cost him energy to chase back on while the early lead out by Renshaw opened the door for Greipel to follow Cavendish and extend his run of a stage win in eight straight Grand Tours.

Stage 3 sees the peloton finish on the Mur de Huy, with Dumoulin in prime position to become the third yellow jersey wearer of the race, needing just six seconds to depose Cancellara.

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