Cycling: Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) has won the second stage of this year's Tour de France after Liege. The top German sprinter prevailed in a chaotic final against Arnaud Démare (FDJ) and André Greipel (Lotto Soudal).
Thrilling, chaotic finale in Liège! After a relatively uneventful stage, it got very exciting towards the end. First, a breakaway duo was caught just before the finish, before Marcel Kittel sprinted in an inimitable manner in an overall extremely chaotic sprint to his tenth tour stage win. André Greipel also showed a strong performance and finished third behind Arnaud Démare from France.
In significantly better – i.e. dry – conditions, the tour entourage set off from Düsseldorf shortly after noon and set course for the Belgian stage destination in Liège. A little over 200 mostly flat kilometers were on the program, but with two climbs in the fourth category there were also the first mountain points to collect. The US American Taylor Phinney (Cannondale Drapac) set the tone in the breakaway quartet that formed right after the start and also secured both points in the mountain classifications. He will therefore also be the first professional to start tomorrow in the dotted jersey.
The escape group was able to keep their lead at the two-minute mark for most of the time and harmonized very well. Even the rain that started after 100km didn't throw the four of them off course, even if they kept the peloton on a short leash. Here the teams from Quick-Step Floors and Lotto Soudal drove for their two German sprinters. A mass crash almost 30 km before the finish caused a moment of shock: In a roundabout, a driver slipped on the rain-soaked road and took almost two dozen others with him. However, it appears that all riders involved in the crash were able to continue. However, Luke Durbridge (Orica Scott) had to give up the race beforehand after falling like many other drivers in yesterday's time trial.
The strong Phinney, along with his last remaining comrade-in-arms Yohann Offredo (Wanty Groupe Gobert), bravely defended the lead and it even briefly looked like the duo might even be fighting for the day's win. However, with just under 800m to go, it was all over for her. As a result, no team managed to build an orderly train. At some point Peter Sagan (BORA-hansgrohe) started the sprint, the competition followed. At first it looked like a duel between Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) and Arnaud Démare, but in the final meters the extremely fast Kittel pushed past everyone to victory. André Greipel was also able to work his way up to third place. Geraint Thomas (Sky) crossed the finish line with the peloton and was able to defend the maillot jaune.
Final result of Tour de France stage #2
Overall ranking Tour de France 2017 after stage #2