Tour de France: The First Mass Stage

Stage 1 saw Rohan Dennis take the lead with an absolutely breath-taking Time Trial performance. He will be wearing the Yellow Jersey for the first mass-stage of the 2015 Tour.

The second stage will start from the Dutch City of Utrecht (host of the first stage individual time trial). The 166 km stage will be ending at Neeltje Jans, in the province of Zeeland. Neeltje Jans is an artificial island.

6 towns and municipalities will be crossed between the starting and finishing points. Most notable inclusions will be Gouda, a town famous for its cheese (48 km into the stage) and also the birthplace of Giant-Alpecin’s Koen de Kort, who would indeed try to be a member of the leading breakaway to show off to his friends and family.

An intermediate sprint will take place roughly at the halfway mark at Rotterdam, 80.5kms in. Expect the likes of Sagan, Cavendish, Greipel and other big sprinters to try and take the points (Sagan won the green jersey 3 times in a row with points accumulated in the intermediate sprints).

The Sprinters will be hoping for a bunch sprint with Greipel, Kristoff and Cavendish hoping their lead out trains can get them into position before the finishing battle amongst the sprinting elite. There is the threat of crosswinds blowing over which might split the Main body into several groups, dashing the hopes for a bunch sprint. This situation could suit Giant Alpecin’s John Degenkolb.

Unless the crosswinds really blow and break up the Peloton, don’t expect much action from the General Classification riders who might only start to make their move during the cobblestones of Stage 4, if not in the mountains after the first rest day.

The classification of the top 20 after Stage 1 are-

Positions of the general classification favourites outside the top 20

1. Vincenzo Nibali   (22nd+00’43”)
2. Chris Froome (39th       +00’50”)
3. Alejandro Valverde (43rd      +00’56”)
4. Alberto Contador (46th     +00’58”)
5. Jean-Christophe Peraud (50th     +00’59”)
6. Nairo Quintana (57th  +1’01”)
7. Pierre Rolland (166th      +1’46”)

The wearer of the Jersey’s during Stage 2 are-

1. Maillot Jaune (Yellow Jersey, time classification)

Rohan Dennis of BMC Racing holds all the Jerseys after the first stage but will wear the Yellow Jersey tomorrow.

1. Maillot Vert (Green Jersey, Points Classification)

Finishing second overall, Tony Martin of Etixx-Quick-Step will be wearing this tomorrow. Even though Dennis has the most points, he wears the Yellow Jersey.

1. Maillot Blanc (White Jersey, Time classification for Young riders, Riders born after 1 January 1990 are eligible for the jersey in this years Tour)

Dennis is also eligible for this but as he will be wearing the Yellow Jersey in the stage, Tom Dumoulin of Team Giant-Alpecin, who finished 4th in the Time Trial yesterday will wear this as the second best positioned young rider.

4. Best Team (indicated by the team numbers of the riders printed on a yellow background)

This classification is determined by adding the time of the 3 best positioned riders in the General classification for each team. Team Lotto NL-Jumbo, with their best 3 riders finishing 5th, 9th and 11th are currently the best classified team. They have a 3 and 8 second lead over Trek Factory Racing and BMC Racing respectively.