Polite Dissent

A straightforward day of racing in France with not too many surprises. At 26km into the 181.5km stage, four riders staged a breakaway from the main peloton that lasted until the last 6km. As one of the breakaway riders, Thomas Voeckler won a masterful race up the only major climb in the stage to be the first to wear the red polka-dot King of the Mountain jersey. In terms of the Green Jersey (the sprinters jersey), Tom Boonen of Belgium won the final sprint of the day to the finish line and he gets to wear the green jersey tomorrow.
Dave Zabriskie keeps the overall lead and the yellow jersey.

There was only minimal changes in the standings since almost every rider finished in the main peloton, which all receive the same time. Some of the position changes are due to the wear and tear of the Tour, but most are because of the sprints (which award a time bonus for succesfully winning a sprint). That’s why George Hincapie “fell” to fifth without losing any time; Hungarian Laszlo Bodrogi won enough sprints to gain a twelve-second time bonus and jumped up to third.

Tomorrow’s Stage 3 is another flat road course, 212.5 km (132 miles) this time. There will be sprints and probably a breakway or two, but most riders will be saving their strength for the following day: the Team Time Trial.

American Racers

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