Greig Leach

Day two of the Tour saw the break form in the first kilometer of racing for the second day in a row. The group swelled to seven once Bart De Clercq (Lotto-Belisol) got across to the group containing, Blel Kadri (AG2R), the American Matthew Busche (Trek Factory Racing), Cyril Lemoine (Cofidis), Davide De La Cruz (Net App Endura), Amindo Fanseca (Bretagne-Seche) and Perriq Quemeneur (Europcar). All of these guys saw this stage with its nine categorized climbs as a great opportunity for the break away to succeed, at the very least as a chance to take over the KIng of the Mountains Polka Dot Jersey. Estimates of the crowds along the roadside of Stage 1 ranged from one to two million people and from the start it looks like the 201 kilometers from York to Sheffield would top those numbers easily.