Nicolas Roche up to 11th on Tour de France as Jan Bakelants just holds on for stage win and yellow jersey

Nicolas Roche (above) and Dan Martin are managing to keep out of trouble in the early stages of the Tour despite the crash carnage of yesterday and a lot of riders losing time today.

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By Gavin McLoughlin

Nicolas Roche and Dan Martin were untroubled by a hilly parcours on stage 2 of the Tour de France today, Sunday. The Irish duo finished safely in the main peloton as stage victor and new race leader Jan Bakelants (Radioshack-Leopard) managed to hold off the chasing hordes in nail-biting fashion.

Saxo-Tinkoff rider Roche was prominent in chasing down a speculative attack from general classification favourite Chris Froome. The Team Sky leader jumped strongly away near the summit of the day’s final climb, Roche’s tenacious efforts prevented Froome from stealing a march on Saxo-Tinkoff leader Alberto Contador.

Present in the lead group on yesterday’s chaotic stage, Roche now finds himself in 11^th place on general classification, just one second behind Bakelants.

Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner Martin looked comfortable on the day’s final climb. The Garmin-Sharp leader was toward the front alongside the overall favourites and looks to be in encouraging shape. Martin is 68^th overall and is also one second off the yellow jersey.

Today saw the riders tackle a hilly 156 kilometre route from Bastia to Ajaccio. Four categorised climbs populated the route, with the third category Côte de Salario peaking 12 kilometres from the finish line. The burning question of the morning was whether the sprinters would be able to hang on and contest the stage victory.

It was a gorgeous June afternoon in Corsica and the break of the day formed in the first ten kilometres, with a quartet of Lars Boom (Belkin Procycling), Ruben Perez Moreno (Euskaltel-Euskadi), David Veilleux (Team Europcar) and Blel Kadri (AG2R-La Mondiale) permitted to ride away.

The intermediate sprint came after 33 kilometres, and 3 minutes after the escapees passed through the contenders for the green jersey battled to claim the remaining points. André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) crashed hard yesterday, but today the muscular German showed no ill effects and he produced the quickest gallop.

On the second climb of the day, Veilleux and Kadri distanced Perez and Boom, and then came an attack from Veilleux’s ever-aggressive teammate Thomas Voeckler. The eccentric Frenchman grimaced and gurned as he churned his way up the slope, but with Francaise des Jeux assuming control on the front of the bunch his time in the spotlight would be short lived.

Behind, race-leader Marcel Kittel had fallen out of the rear of the peloton, and the big German was really struggling in the oppressive heat as the road continued to creep upwards.  

Kadri was the break’s sole survivor as the riders came to the day’s third climb. Pierre Rolland (Europcar) was the next to attack with two kilometres left to the summit. The Frenchman quickly caught and passed Kadri and set off alone. Vasil Kiryienka took charge of the chase and the familiar blue and black Team Sky train settled into formation.

BMC and Cannondale soon began to contribute also, and when Rolland was eventually caught visions of a victory for the Slovak speed-merchant Peter Sagan started to form.

Inside the final 20 kilometres and the jostling for position started. The pace was ferocious as the race entered the environs of Ajaccio and the attacks came as soon as the final climb started. The veteran Spaniard Juan Antonio Flecha (Vacansoleil) quickly powered clear, joined for company by the diminutive French climber Cyril Gautier (Europcar).

Roche and Martin held station near the front of the pack, and before long Flecha was distanced by Gautier’s tempo. When Froome tried his luck, an attentive Roche performed his duty perfectly.

Gautier was caught and with 7 kilometres remaining an attack from Sylvain Chavanel sparked a six-man escape. The group was slow to organise itself but eventually established a reasonable gap.

With Sagan’s lime-clad lieutenants on the front, still it appeared that the Slovak would have his way.  The advantage stubbornly hovered around 10 seconds but began to melt away in the final two kilometres.

His companions gave up, but Bakelants showed fighting spirit and hurled himself desperately away. The Belgian gave it everything as the peloton roared up behind him, and somehow he managed to cling on by a single, solitary second to cross the line in glory and disbelief.

Tomorrow is another hilly stage, encompassing 146 kilometres from Ajaccio to Calvi. The second category Col de Marselino crests with some 13 kilometres remaining, so perhaps Martin or another overall contender will emulate Froome’s move of today and strike some fear into their rivals. Roche will need to be watchful again as he tries to shepherd Contador towards the top step of the podium in Paris.

@gavmcloughlin

STAGE 2 RESULT

1.	BAKELANTS Jan		RADIOSHACK LEOPARD	03h 43' 11''
2.	SAGAN Peter		CANNONDALE	03h 43' 12''	+ 00' 01''
3.	KWIATKOWSKI Michal		OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP	03h 43' 12''	+ 00' 01''
4.	CIMOLAI Davide		LAMPRE - MERIDA	03h 43' 12''	+ 00' 01''
5.	BOASSON HAGEN Edvald		SKY PROCYCLING	03h 43' 12''	+ 00' 01''
6.	SIMON Julien		SOJASUN	03h 43' 12''	+ 00' 01''
7.	GAVAZZI Francesco		ASTANA PRO TEAM	03h 43' 12''	+ 00' 01''
8.	IMPEY Daryl		ORICA GREENEDGE	03h 43' 12''	+ 00' 01''
9.	BENNATI Daniele		TEAM SAXO-TINKOFF	03h 43' 12''	+ 00' 01''
10.	LAGUTIN Sergey		Related News Lara Gillespie attacks Dolomite stage as Giro hits high mountains Video - Ireland's Meehan climbs with best on brutal Alpine terrain VACANSOLEIL-DCM	03h 43' 12''	+ 00' 01''
36.	ROCHE Nicolas		TEAM SAXO-TINKOFF	03h 43' 12''	+ 00' 01''
87.	MARTIN Daniel		GARMIN - SHARP	03h 43' 12''	+ 00' 01''

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION