Summary
We had crashes, punctures, a cracking sprint finish, and ALL THE WEATHER: what a race.
Big props to Greipel, he quietly went about his business, nestled himself in the leading pack and timed his sprint to perfection. Cavendish will be hugely disappointed, this was possibly his biggest opportunity to win a stage, and didn’t fare too well in the intermediate sprint in Rotterdam either. Froome and Contador can also be happy with their work today, finishing in the leading pack.
Cancellara stole the yellow jersey from Tony Martin thanks to his four second bonus (for finishing ahead of Cavendish). This could be the 34-year-old last Tour, and wearing that jersey tonight will feel extra special.
Hugely disappointing day for Quintana and Nibali, who got lost in the crosswinds and never recovered. They are both over two minutes behind! Normally Nibali is so good tactically, he didn’t have his team-mates around him at a crucial middle part of the race. Disaster.
Thanks for reading, and for your emails and tweets. It’s been a hoot. Here is the last wind-mentioning song of the day. It’s a good’un. Bye!
Classement de l'étape / Stage classification pic.twitter.com/RRl2nCAaBT
— Le Tour de France (@letour) July 5, 2015
Greipel speaks:
Really nervous with the rain and the wind. The team kept me at the front. I’m really proud.
Updated
Cancellara actually came from nowhere to pip Cavendish into third and take four second time bonus. Cavendish will be getting an earful for not giving 100% until the end, he sat up!
@michaelbutler18 Renshaw and Cavendish went about 100m too early. Massive waste of an opportunity with so many QS riders in the group.
— James (@WYSEjames) July 5, 2015
@michaelbutler18 Cav sitting up and not nailing 3rd place allowed Fabian to take yellow from Martin. Massive errors from Etixx-QS.
— James (@WYSEjames) July 5, 2015
Updated
Cancellara takes the yellow jersey! He is our new race leader.
The Swiss finished fourth. The second group finished a full 1min27sec behind the leaders.
GREIPEL WINS STAGE TWO!
Cavendish and Sagan pipped at the line!
Updated
1km to go. Faces are grimaces. Cavendish is holding on!!!
2 km to go! The weather is clear. The road is straightening. Here we go!
Larguez les amarres / Time to cast off #TDF2015 pic.twitter.com/vGDScAw2dg
— Le Tour de France (@letour) July 5, 2015
Updated
The streets are now lined on both sides by supporters, as the leading pack enter the final 3km, crossing . Froome and Contador can be happy with their day’s work. Can Sagan stay with Cavendish after that monumental effort following his puncture? Greipel is there too!
Updated
Movistar have had a miserable day, with Quintana firmly nestled a full 1min17secs behind the leaders, and it doesn’t get any better for the Spanish team, with Anacona losing grip at around 30km/hour as he attempted to whizz around a roundabout, crashing into the boards. Oooo, that was a horrible crash! Losada also went down!
Updated
Well, which one do you fancy? We’re into the final 10km.
.@MarkCavendish vs @petosagan vs @AndreGreipel vs .... Qui est votre favori ? / Who is your favorite? #TDF2015 pic.twitter.com/n2huUHkhUz
— Le Tour de France (@letour) July 5, 2015
Updated
Sagan has made it! That is quite extraordinary effort from the 25-year-old. Bennati has fallen back.
Segan (TCS) clocked a speed of 73.33 km/hr to get back into the race
— letourdata (@letourdata) July 5, 2015
Updated
Sagan has a puncture! Oh no, is he going to be able to make it back to the chasing pack?! 14km to go. Bennati also has had a mechanical!
Updated
The riders are haring along this Dutch coast. The road is wet, as spray flies up around the racers, but the sun is out, and the wind has become a full tailwind. We’re into the final 16km. There are lots of roundabouts ahead, which could yet play a big part on deciding who wins this stage. I can’t see that leading group being caught, Quintana’s group are still 58 seconds behind.
Nibali has just reached the very back of that second group. He’s got one Astana team-mate with him to help propel him to the front of the pack.
Quintana’s group is now only 50secs off the leading group. They were 1min7secs back a few km ago. Good going, that.
Nibali has a puncture! His team-mates are nowhere to be seen! He’s all alone here! He’ll have to work mighty hard to rejoin that second group. He’s being warned not to use the team cars too much as a windshield, which is illegal.
Nibali (AST) clocked 60 km/hr through the cars to get back into his group
— letourdata (@letourdata) July 5, 2015
Updated
Here’s who is in the leading group:
Froome, Stannard, Thomas, Contador, Bennati, Rogers, Sagan, Van Garderen, Oss, Quinziato, Schar, Van Avermaet, Gallopin, Greipel, Sieberg, Barguil, Dumoulin, Kwiatkowski, Cavendish, Martin, Renshaw, Stybar, Uran, Cancellara, Koren.
A lot of top-quality talent in that field, we’re in for a cracking finish, I still expect Cavendish to take it? 28km to go.
They have a 1min5sec lead over the chasing group, which includes Quintana and Nibali. A bad day for those two so far.
“Not the first time Movistar has been caught out in crosswinds!” cries Jakob Mathiszig-lee on the email. “A real shame if Quintana loses his best chance at the tour on the flat but thats cycling.
On the subject of shaved legs which was talked about earlier, one bike manufacter, tested rider in their wind tunnel and found doing it could save 50-80 seconds over a 40km time trial!”
Group three has caught group two! So Quintana now riding with Nibali and Dennis.
💥💢CHAOS💥💢 #TDF2015 pic.twitter.com/zPcPKcolgF
— Le Tour de France (@letour) July 5, 2015
I’m quite enjoying the emojis that the Tour de France twitter team are using. Keep it up.
Three groups to tell you about then, a big day for Froome and Contador if it stays like this!
Leading group: Cavendish, who surely remains favourite to take the yellow jersey here, is joined (among others) by Froome, Contador, Sagan, Degenkolb, Greipel, about 25 riders in total. Teams are Tinkoff, Sky, BMC, Etixx, Lotto-Soudal.
Group Two, 27 secs behind: Nibali is with Dennis and Pinot.
Group Three, 1min3secs behind: Quintana.Valverde/Peraud/Mollema
40km to go, and the riders are battling 40km/hour crosswinds. Ouch!
Here’s The Guardian’s Barry Glendenning with the weather part III:
Greetings once again from the finish line in Zelande, which is fast turning into one of the weirdest places I’ve ever visited. Thirty minutes ago the weather conditions were apocalyptic: thunder, lightning, lashing rain and a howling gale. Now it’s stopped raining, the sun is splitting the rocks and there isn’t so much as a breeze. The flags outside are hanging limply and one of the windmills things isn’t even turning.
50km to go!
Peloton divided into two groups now: Froome, Contador seem to be OK at the front. Lotto-Soudal are the ones setting the pace, with Sky tucked just in behind.
Quintana has got lost! He’s 40-odd seconds behind. Valverde, Rodriguez and Peruad are also with him in the back group.
Peloton divisé / Peloton divided, @NairoQuinCo is in the 2nd group. #TDF2015 pic.twitter.com/wny35bwbYT
— Le Tour de France (@letour) July 5, 2015
Updated
CRASH!
Nouvelle chute / New crash, @HansenAdam is down. #TDF2015 pic.twitter.com/HLYbIfI3el
— Le Tour de France (@letour) July 5, 2015
“What is that object coming out of the back of the riders saddles?” asks Patrick Maier.
Well, Patrick it’s a transponder, which digitally tracks exact where the riders are throughout the race. It also gives the race organisers a rider’s exact time of when they cross the line. In years gone by the transponder was attached lower down on the side of the bike, but they moved it under the saddle to ensure that it wouldn’t fall off or get damaged should the riders have a fall.
Conditions have got better at the finish line, with the wind and rain relenting, but have got much worse over the riders, with the rain lashing down onto their helmets. It looks as though the nasty weather front is actually moving up the coast towards the racers so they might meet the bad weather sooner than they/we thought.
The breakaway four is now a breakaway three, with Clement, Fonseca and Barta 41 seconds ahead of the chasing pack. 61km to go.
There is a severe weather warning now in place about 20km outside the finish line, but the wind direction has changed: it is now a tailwind, which sounds like a good thing, but any crosstail wind will actually make the riders even more unstable. Not the conditions Mark Cavendish and co want when they are battling it out.
Look at that line of storms developing over finish line in Zeeland .. #tourdefrance #coldfront pic.twitter.com/iXdOzdSYPC
— willem middelkoop (@wmiddelkoop) July 5, 2015
Updated
The Guardian’s Barry Glendenning is in Zeeland and has kindly emailed this:
More of this part of the world is below sea level than not, and it’s unbelievably desolate here today: lashing rain and very windy. The riders have a long straight run in to the finish, divided on both sides by water and they’re in for a hell of a shock if the weather stays like this. Think Father Ted’s domicile of Craggy Island on a bad day. Of course before that, crosswinds on the ride down this way could wreak havoc in the peloton and smash it to bits.
Annnnnnnd breathe. It’s all calmed down a little bit. The wind has dropped, the riders have been through the feed zone and taken on board some gels and the riders are gearing up for the final 70km or so. However, it’s likely to get pretty hairy at the finish …
L'arrivée s'annonce dantesque / it will be an epic final #TDF2015 https://t.co/RiwVyeeiD4
— Le Tour de France (@letour) July 5, 2015
Leader Barta just blew the cameras a kiss. What a nice man.
Barta (BOA) hit a top speed of 55.84 km/hr pic.twitter.com/9lThlCso7p
— letourdata (@letourdata) July 5, 2015
Kristoff, meanwhile, reached a maximum speed of 67.39 km/h at the intermediate sprint!
Updated
CRASH!
Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) is down, but he is back on the road after a quick bike change. Geraint Thomas and Wilco Kelderman were also involved. It doesn’t appear to be a major collision and all the riders seem to be OK.
Après plusieurs chutes, le peloton est groupé à 50'' de l'échappée/After some crashes, all riders are back. #TDF2015 pic.twitter.com/2uwfOj3edH
— Le Tour de France (@letour) July 5, 2015
Updated
Here’s a result of the intermediate sprint then with the leading four taking the first four positions.
- Bárta
- Clement
- Fonseca
- Quemener
Degenkolb is the next from the second pack to arrive. He beat off competition from Kristoff, Sagan and Cavendish, who finished sixth, seventh and eighth respectfully.
Updated
And we’re into the intermediate sprint! Barta has maintained a lead out front (19 seconds) and he will take most of the points. He’s a big time-trial specialist, it will be interesting to see how long he lasts.
The riders have nearly reached the coast and they are entering Rotterdam, which is where the intermediate sprint will begin.
“German Champion Buchman was dropped from the very last echelon when it all blew apart,” emails James Cavall. “He was completely alone and had to close about 15 metres to get back in the last group of stragglers. Had he failed to close that gap, it’s probable he’d have needed to ride the rest of the stage alone, losing many minutes and most probably finishing outside the time limit. That would have been an awful humiliation. As one who has suffered such a fate in this part of the world I was mightily relieved when he clawed his way back.”
Updated
And so the field is split into three. The breakaway four still lead, but now only by 22 seconds with Contador and co fast approaching – Astana, AG2R, BMC, Movistar, Giant are all also with Tinkoff-Saxo and Sky. The third group, which include Dan Martin, Joaquim Rodríguez, Talansky, Hesjedal are about 44 seconds behind them, and they appear to have been caught out!
Valverde had to fight very hard to get back into that second group. But he’s done it.
Bruce Lindley emails:
“Your Hendrix tune is spot on, but another great story is told in Seger’s ‘Against the Wind’”
100km to go! Contador is marshalling his Tinkoff Saxo troops, barking instructions over his shoulder as he heads the second group. They are just 30-odd seconds from the leading four now. That’s more than two minutes they’ve made up!
Updated
It might be an obvious point to make, but it is so important to stay at the front of the peloton. You can control the pace and not find yourself cast off should the peloton split.
Tinkoff-Saxo and Sky taking turns to head the peloton and they have split from the main pack! With roundabout and narrowing roads, the peloton has elongated. Things are getting interesting!
As the riders coast towards the coast, the four-strong breakaway group are crossing a bridge, where they are fully exposed to the quickening wind. It’s getting brutal out there.
James Cavall has got in touch, via the medium of email.
“Everyone here in The Netherlands was really hoping for wind today, and it looks like those wishes are being honoured by the Weather Gods. My only concern now is that it will become so extreme ahead that there will be a row between the likes of Etixx Quick Step, Lotto NL and the teams that want to try and blow the race apart in the crosswind, and the GC teams who might want to enforce a ‘ceasefire’ for safety reasons.
Quick Step riders had the crosswind sections marked on their handlebar stems today. Riders like Quintana and Froome who train all the time and rarely race could get taught a painful lesson in keeping out of trouble in the Dutch crosswinds later today.”
The rain is starting to fall onto the riders. In the peloton, teams are jostling for position as they look to protect their GC riders, there are visible patches of blue and red and black as the riders bunch. Nervous times for all the teams here.
Meanwhile on the finish line... ut oh!
As forecast, the wind & rain have arrived in Zeeland. Chaos garanteed! 6 roundabouts from 7.5 & 5k to go. Full crosswind last 40km #sbstdf
— Robbie McEwen (@mcewenrobbie) July 5, 2015
The 1km to go arch has been dismantled because it's too windy #TDF2015
— the Inner Ring (@inrng) July 5, 2015
Oh oh oh... #TDF2015 https://t.co/MBU8dCdUq5
— Le Tour de France (@letour) July 5, 2015
Updated
Let’s have a recap on exactly what is on offer today.
Winning the stage will earn you the yellow jersey, 50 points towards the green jersey, a 10-second time bonus, and a cool €8,000 in prize money.
The riders are approaching the 50km mark and there will also be an intermediate sprint when we get to Rotterdam at the 80km mark. It’s a very technical park of the race, with some quite tight bends. 20 points towards the green jersey on offer for the winner of that.
“How much speed do the riders gain by shaving their legs and does this gain increase into a head wind?” emails Mark Dixon. “Wondering if I should shave mine!”
Well Mark, I’m afraid I can’t put an exact figure on it, as each rider has a slightly different build and style and therefore cuts through the air a little differently, but it definitely helps, especially into a headwind.
Gerald Ciolek, who won last month’s prestigious Milan – San Remo race in 2012, riding for MTN-Qhubeka has this to say on the subject:
There are some good and simple reasons for us doing it. By shaving, you avoid the uncomfortable hair root infections that can be caused by our daily massages. Also, wounds simply heal faster after crashes and don’t get infected as easily. Not to mention that it just looks better.
Mike Burrows, who designed the bike that Chris Boardman won Olympic gold on in 1992 in Barcelona, and who later went on to revolutionise bike design with the compact frame (featuring the distinctive sloping top tube).
When it comes to the aerodynamic properties of depilation, Burrows recommends a Mohican for your legs.
If you’ve got a little bit of hair on your legs it will turbulate [sic] the air so you get a better flow. Now this in itself creates friction, so you don’t want all your leg hairy you just want two thin strips, each about 10mm wide, just before the sides of your legs – though you will look really stupid.
You need the turbulent boundary layer – provided by these strips of hair - to get the air around the corner, and you need a smooth layer for it to flow over. But the leg is such a rubbish shape that ideally you want an aerofoil on the back of it.
So there, you have it Mark, a mohican it is.
For more on shaving your legs, have a read of this.
The riders are making their way towards the coast. We’ve just seen the scene at the finish line, by the way, and the wind sock is horizontal! Severe weather ahoy!
The breakaway group of Perrig Quéméneur, Stef Clement, Jan Bárta, and Armindo Fonseca is 2min44seconds ahead of the peloton.
Updated
Wind isn’t the only weather factor today …
@michaelbutler18 Hi, see http://t.co/NFY2PEMhQW for rain and thunder coming towards Zeeland. Dutch Met Office issued a weather warning.
— Erwin Hofman (@Erwin_Hofman) July 5, 2015
We’re expecting about 9mm of rain today actually, towards the end of the race in Zeeland. It is already raining there.
Nibali was interviewed before he set off today and he had this to say.
Today is a big day for the sprinters. I think the GC riders just need to stay out of trouble. I was very happy with my day yesterday. In fact I would go so far to say that it was excellent.
@michaelbutler18 just rode 50m local vets race; blew completely after 4m - got some work to do to match the TdF boys...
— thisdell (@thisdell) July 5, 2015
Good work. I also cycled to work this morning but it’s basically all downhill so I’ve got a tough 4.3km ride home tonight.
Why don’t you have a go on our all-singing/dancing stage-by-stage interactive?
These are all the details on today’s stage. This year’s race is one of the most mountainous in history but today is flat as a pancake, with a high of just six metres above sea level, which will be reached 144km into the 166km race.
Updated
The four-rider breakaway has already opened up a two-minute gap on the main pack, which is being headed by the Etixx-Quick Step boys.
Please do get in touch with any thoughts on today’s race. Or any thoughts in general, to be honest.
Have you been out on the bike today? Who do you fancy to take the yellow jersey? What is your favourite song that mentions the wind?
I’ll go with this from Jimi, which has the added bonus of a Edward Hopper montage. I’m not sure why.
Anyway, I’m all ears. Email me at michael.butler@theguardian.com or tweet me @michaelbutler18.
We already have a four-rider breakaway but there is no real desire from the main pack to chase them down at the moment. It’s still very relaxed out there.
The four riders are Perrig Quéméneur, Stef Clement, Jan Bárta, and Armindo Fonseca.
Updated
Départ Réel
And we’re off!
The riders are still making their way out of Utrecht. This is essentially a parade, with fans lining the streets – Dennis out in front in his gleaming yellow jersey. The racing will begin in earnest once they are out of town.
Mark Cavendish is amongst the favourites for today, but with the wind, this won’t be a classic sprint stage. With Etixx-Quick Step, he’s got a great team with Rigoberto Urán and the Pole Michal Kwiatkowski, who Team Sky tried to pinch recently.
Everyone is going to be nervous. But we’ve got a strong team, and hopefully stay out of trouble.
The riders are making their way out of Utrecht – just warming up their legs – which was of course where yesterday’s time trial. It is the cycling capital of the Netherlands, apparently: parking a car in the city costs €35! On your bike, son!
There is a 100-strong choir lining the canal that sing the riders out of town. Drink it in, boys.
Dennis’s moment in the yellow sun may well prove to be brief, but the Australian is a genuine talent, and his Tour Down Under victory earlier this year is a testament to that – he could hold the jersey for a couple of days. Notably, he also clocked fastest average speed for an individual time trial in the race’s history: 55.446km per hour. Woof.
In case you missed the stage one action yesterday, catch up here with this lovely highlights video of the time-trial.
Updated
Preamble
It is often the case that once one has had a taste of something, one will fight tooth and nail to sample it again. Nothing else will do and the life that one previously lead – a life ignorant of true satisfaction – simply isn’t enough any more. For Gollum, it was the ring. For a junkie, it is the next fix. For helpless romantics, it is basking in the glow of their bae again. For the Sadhus of India, it is enlightenment.
For Dwight Schrute in The Office (US), it is Megadesk. When his colleague and long-time adversary Jim is away from his station, Dwight combines both his desk and Jim’s to build a sort-of workspace Deathstar – made up of conference phones, ring filers and stationary in which he can. When Jim returns, Dwight is faced with the reality of returning to a single desk, and it all gets a bit too much for him. He must have it, he is now a slave to it.
That is all I care about. Getting … more … Megadesk.
For professional cyclists, they must feel this for the yellow jersey. Some, like yesterday’s Stage One winner Rohan Dennis may only have it for a single evening, and as Dennis drifted off to sleep last night – no doubt wearing the jersey – it must have crossed hismind that he might not ever reach such heights again. Some, like Chris Froome and Alberto Contador, have worn it numerous occasions and will almost certainly wear it many times again. But the thirst never goes away, and it must be a thirst, for why else would these men put themselves through such agonising pain in this sport?
Today’s torment will take place across 166km (103 miles) of the Netherlands, a flat and windy terrain that looks set to divide the field.
The highest point today is six metres above sea-level but there is potential for upset in the exposed route, which ends with a run across the breakwaters and deltas west of Rotterdam. A north or north-west wind could well cause the field to split into echelons – as happened on the Saint-Amand-Montrond stage of the 2013 Tour – or at best create epic stress levels and crashes.
As mentioned, Dennis will start with the yellow jersey and whilst he has a genuine hope to hang onto the thing for one more day, his main job this Tour will be to support his BMC team-mate Tejay van Garderen, who does have a genuine prospect of a GC podium.
Of the favourites, Vincenzo Nibali fared the best, finishing yesterday 47 seconds behind Dennis, seven ahead of Froome. Behind the Sky rider, Contador was another eight seconds back while the Colombian Nairo Quintana, the fourth member of this quartet of big hitters, was another 46 seconds off the pace.
We’re all set for a fascinating day. Let’s get it on!
