Nicolas Roche recovered well from a crash on the tough stage into Sheffield, but it was Vincenzo Nibali who seized the day, taking stage victory and the yellow jersey (Photo: Stefano Sirotti)
Nicolas Roche overcame a crash in the final third of stage 2 of the Tour de France to make his way into the select group that emerged after a long day in the saddle over 201km from York to Sheffield.
The Irish man was one of only two Tinkoff-Saxo riders to make their way into the lead group as the race entered the final 10km.
It was not until the penultimate 1km Jenkin Rd climb, a cat 4 climb in Sheffield city centre as the finish line approached, that Roche lost his place with the leaders.
His team mate Alberto Contador had a dig, followed by the defending champion Chris Froome of Team Sky. While those two efforts and an attack from Romain Bardet (Ag2r) split the front group, it was a lone move by Vincenzo Nibali that proved decisive.
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The Astana man, who won the Italian national road race championships just last week, jumped with less than 2km remaining and after a period in which stage favourite Peter Sagan (Cannondale) forced the pace on the front and covered a number of the earlier attacks.
The leaders stalled and watched Nibali ride away before Froome made an effort to go after him from the 20-man group.
But Nibali's lead had nudged above five seconds and he rode flat out to the line to take the stage win by two seconds from Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) and Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quickstep).
The Italian also takes the yellow jersey after stage 1 winner Marcel Kittel (Giant Shimano) was dropped on the climbs with over an hour remaining.
Roche was part of a 13-man group that finished just 16 seconds after Nibali, coming home in 26th place and is in the same position overall at the same deficit to the new leader.
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While Roche would have liked to remain with the lead group when the late attacking started, it was a good ride by Roche considering he crashed along with Richie Porte of Team Sky and others with 65km remaining.
He was forced to wait for a period for a new bike and got his chase underway over a minute down on the field.
The stage was again characterised by massive crowds on the roadside, and with nine categorised climbs including the cat 2 ascent of Holme Moss split the field as expected.
Cycling has grown hugely in the UK in the past decade or so, and the crowds seen at the side of the roads in the past two days of the Tour's Grand Départ in Britain have been nothing short of staggering.
A young Irish fan makes his mark on the road today in support of Tinkoff-Saxo's Nicolas Roche
Yesterday's stage 1 winner and yellow jersey this morning, Marcel Kittel takes the applause of the crowd at the packed York race track where the stage rolled out from today (Photo: Stefano Sirotti)
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