Stage 2 of the Tour de France, which was a flat stage, came down to teams battling it out at the front for position in the final kilometers. A three rider breakaway, which attacked at 22km, had as much as eight minutes on the field, but was caught with more than enough time for teams to set up their leadout trains. Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team led the chase until the break was caught, and then left the battling for the sprint up to other teams.
Mark Cavendish (Sky ProCycling) sat on Andre Greipel's (Lotto-Belisol) wheel until the final meters, and beat Greipel in a head to head sprint to the finish. Matthew Goss (Orica-GreenEDGE) was 3rd.
Tony Martin, who crashed yesterday and fractured the scaphoid of his left hand, stayed out of trouble by riding comfortably in the peloton, and not taking any risks. Jerome Pineau, who was hit by a spectator in his shoulder yesterday, worked for the team leader Sylvain Chavanel. Chavanel remains 3rd in the GC, 7 seconds back from leader Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack-Nissan).
"The day for me was so and so," Pineau said. "I suffered a bit because of my shoulder. It wasn't easy to relaunch the bike. Fortunately the road was OK, and I had enough power in the legs to stay in good position, and out of trouble. Today I had the reassurance that my shoulder is getting better. In the final, I managed to stay in the front to help out Chavanel. Chava is in good condition, and it would have been stupid to lose time today. tomorrow it will be another day. I will try to do my best to give a hand to the team in an important stage."
Martin said his day also had its ups and downs.
"My feeling was not too bad, even if it was painful sometimes," Martin said. "The problem was when the road gets really bad and bumpy, there was small hits on the hand. It was a bit hard for me to control the bike, to brake and to have a stable position. So, today I survived, but I am concerned about tomorrow. I will also try to change a little bit the setup of my bike to find a more comfortable position for my hand."