Tour de France - Stage 2 - American in Polka Dots

American Taylor Phinney
For 202 of the 203 km's of stage 2, from Germany to Belgium, an American cyclist for Team Cannondale was among the most prominent. Taylor Phinney immediately joined a 4 man break at the onset of the race and as a part of that break managed to take all the top mountain points on tap for the stage. This now puts Phinney into the polka-dot jersey, awarded to the rider with the most mountain points. Hooray for the USA as we head into the 4th of July this week, though it is more than likely Phinney will lose the jersey on stage 3.
Meanwhile, Geraint Thomas of Team Sky remained relatively safe in the Pelaton and retains the leaders yellow jersey. There was a crash caused by the wet roads on another rainy day which caused a pile up, taking down Thomas and teammate Chris Froome as well as about 20 others. There didn't appear to be any major injuries due to the crash.

Stage 2 Highlights

Marcel Kittel wins Stage 2
German Sprinter Marcel Kittel, who as part of the pelaton, roared past Phinney with a kilometer to go, won the sprint at the finish line, his 10th stage win in the Tour de France. The bonus seconds at the line moved Kittel into 3rd place in the overall GC standings, currently led by the Welshman Thomas and Swiss rider Stefan Kung.

Stage 3 Map
Stage 3 on Monday offers a course which begins in Belgium, crosses in Luxemburg, and will end in France. over the 212 km course. It is bumpy, with almost constant up or down terrain which may be able to drop some of the sprinters and move more of the GC contenders into the top 10. While bumpy, there are no serious climbs for these pros and while some are forecasting a puncher to win, someone who can breakaway from the main pelaton and hold on, I tend to see most of the pelaton reaching the final climb as one, with the top GC guys sticking together to the finish. I would expect Thomas, Froome, Quintana, Porte, Contador and others to all finish within seconds of each other and Thomas probably holding onto the Yellow leaders jersey.

Stage 3 Profile