Today was the type of stage that isn’t that exciting – even for me: A flat and fast stage with a bunch sprint at the end. The bunch sprints are exciting and today we had two; in addition to the stage win, the interim sprint for points for the green jersey classification was also contested by super-sprinters Mark Cavendish (Sky), Matthew Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) , Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) and yesterday’s stage winner – Peter Sagan.

Unlike yesterday, the teams with sprinters took turns setting the pace of the peloton and chasing down the 3 man breakaway. They caught the breakaway with no trouble, keeping the pace high, they got their “sprint trains” in place to carry and deliver their sprinter to the 200-250 k mark from the finish and the let the sprinters duke it out.

With Sky saving their riders for yellow jersey hopeful Bradley Wiggins’ use in the mountains, Cavendish was left to his own devices. Not a problem. He worked his way along and with about 150 k to go he found former teammate/current archrival Andre Greipel’s wheel and held on waiting to pounce. When Greipel (Lotto) opened up his sprint, Cavendish came around him and just pipped him at the line. Goss, also a former teammate of Cavendish’s took 3rd.

When Greipel finds out that it was his wheel that Cavendish used to beat him and take the stage win, he will not be happy to say the least. Those two guys strongly dislike each other to say the least.

I don’t think it was accidental that Cavendish ended up on his wheel.

There was no change in the overall lead, fan favorite Fabian Cancellara (Radio Shack-Nissan) held on to the yellow jersey. Tomorrow the riders leave Belgium and start their tour of France… 😉

——————————————————————————–

Stage 3 will be somewhat like Stage 1 – lumpy with Category 4 and 3 climbs. Unlike Stage 1, there is no uphill finish, nonetheless it isn’t a stage for the sprinters. It’s a stage for the likes of Sagan, Cancellara, Phillip Gilbert, or the guy I think might win – Frenchman, Sylvan Chavanel who sits in 3rd place (yes, 3rd) at only 7 seconds behind the yellow jersey. Expect more excitement tomorrow!

P.S. My cable television and internet service is out. Yep. Out. My husband is waiting on hold to talk to them and hopefully get it back up tomorrow morning. I can’t be without my services in the month of July!