Germany’s Kittel wins Tour’s 2nd stage

Thomas holds on to lead; Sky teammate Froome is in 6th.

Germany’s Marcel Kittel met expectations and won the second stage of the Tour de France with a commanding sprint finish Sunday while threetime champion Chris Froome didn’t lose any time despite falling to the pavement amid a mass crash on a wet corner.

Froome’s Sky teammate Geraint Thomas held on to the leader’s yellow jersey.

Froome was near the front of the peloton when a Katusha rider ahead of him lost control coming around a sharp turn with about 30 kilometers (20 miles) to go. The domino reaction also took down last year’s runner-up, Romain Bardet.

Froome’s shorts and several layers of skin were torn and he had to change bikes as three teammates paced him back to the peloton.

“Obviously it was a stressful day in the rain and with that tumble,” Thomas said. “We all knew (Froome) was OK. It was just a matter of getting him back on.”

Having won the opening time trial Saturday, Thomas remained five seconds ahead of Swiss rider Stefan Kueng in the overall standings.

With a 10-second bonus, Kittel moved up to third overall, six seconds behind Thomas. Froome is sixth, 12 seconds behind.

For the race’s first full road stage following Saturday’s opening time trial, Kittel clocked slightly more than 4½ hours over the mostly flat 126-mile leg from Duesseldorf, Germany to Liege.

It was Kittel’s 10th career Tour stage win.

As he often does after big wins, Kittel dropped to the ground and started crying after he crossed the line.

Arnaud Demare of France finished second, Andre Greipel of Germany crossed third and Mark Cavendish of Britain was fourth.

Cavendish has been the dominant sprinter of his generation but did not have ideal preparation for the Tour after coming down with mononucleosis caused by the EpsteinBarr virus in April.

That makes Kittel, who now has 10 wins this season, the man to be beat.

It was also an important win for Kittel’s Quick-Step team, which is based in Belgium.

The route started with a short circuit, returning to Duesseldorf after passing through the Neander Valley. The peloton then veered southwest through Moenchengladbach and the border city of Aachen before crossing into Belgium’s French-speaking Wallonia region.

The Tour remains in Belgium for the start of Stage 3 on Monday, a 132-mile leg from Verviers to Longwy, France, that passes through Luxembourg.