Tour de France 2017
Stage 2: Dusseldorf to Liege- 203.5km

From km Zero 3 riders went clear of the peleton; Thomas Boudat (Direct Energie), Yoann Alfredo (Wanty Groupe Gobert), Laurent Pichon (Fortuneo Oscaro) and Taylor Phinney (Cannondale Drapac). It was a flattish stage with only two category 4 climbs, meaning it would in all likelyhood be a sprinter winning the stage. The Sprinters would have their day, despite a massive crash at the 30km to go mark. Chris Froome (Sky), one of the hot favourites to win the Tour for the fourth consecutive time was caught in amoungst the crash. He along with Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) anouther Tour contender chased hard with the assistance of the fellow crash victims and their respective teams sending riders back to bring them back into the main peleton. The Break stayed away up until the 1.7km mark with Yoann Alfredo being the last to be caught alongside Taylor Phinney. Marcel Kittle outfoxed and out sprinted the bunch to claim the first road stage.

Stage Results

1 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Quick-Step Floors 4:37:06
2 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ
3 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal
4 Mark Cavendish (GB) Dimension Data
5 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo

General classification

1 Geraint Thomas (GB) Team Sky 4:53:10
2 Stefan Küng (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:00:05
3 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:06
4 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky 0:00:07
5 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:10