A year after being kicked out of the Tour de France, Peter Sagan was back with a bang as he claimed victory in the second stage to take the overall leader’s yellow jersey on Sunday.
The Slovak was thrown out after the fourth stage 12 months ago for sending Mark Cavendish crashing in a chaotic sprint, but he won it clean this time to beat Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) and Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) into second and third places.
“It’s a perfect day, I was a bit scared because Sonny was coming back strong,” said Sagan. “It’s a very good start. I’m really back.”
Fernando Gaviria, who won the opening stage on Saturday and wore the yellow jersey during the 182.5-km ride from Mouilleron-Saint-Germain, crashed in the finale and was unable to contest the sprint.
Marcel Kittel, who has 14 Tour stage wins under his belt, suffered a puncture just under eight kilometers from the line and could not make it back to the front of the bunch in time.
The final sprint was contested by a dozen riders after a massive pile-up split the bunch, with Gaviria and Michael Matthews, suffering in the crash.
Demare launched the sprint 250 meters from the line and Sagan jumped ahead of him with ease before holding off Colbrelli in the final meters.
Defending champion Chris Froome, who lost 51 seconds to some of his main rivals after crashing on Saturday, had an uneventful day on the bike and finished safely in the peloton.
The Briton, hoping to become the first rider since Marco Pantani in 1998 to achieve a Giro d’Italia-Tour double, was booed by the French crowd ahead of the start.
Tour de France 2018 – stage 2 results (Mouilleron-Saint-Germain – La Roche-sur-Yon):
| 1 | Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) | 4:06:37 |
| 2 | Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) | ,, |
| 3 | Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) | ,, |
| 4 | Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 5 | Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 6 | Timothy Dupont (Wanty – Groupe Gobert) | ,, |
| 7 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | ,, |
| 8 | Andrea Pasqualon (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) | ,, |
| 9 | John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 10 | Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 11 | Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 12 | Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 13 | Guillaume van Keirsbulck (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) | ,, |
| 14 | Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 15 | Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) | ,, |
| 16 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 17 | Pierre Latour (AG2R La Mondiale) | ,, |
| 18 | Richie Porte (BMC) | ,, |
| 19 | Pierre Rolland (EF Education First-Drapac) | ,, |
| 20 | Koen De Kort (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
General classification after stage 2:
| 1 | Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) | 8:29:53 |
| 2 | Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) | +06” |
| 3 | Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) | +10” |
| 4 | Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin) | +12” |
| 5 | Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie) | +13” |
| 6 | Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) | +14” |
| 7 | Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) | +15” |
| 8 | Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale) | ,, |
| 9 | Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) | +16” |
| 10 | John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 11 | Timothy Dupont (Wanty – Groupe Gobert) | ,, |
| 12 | Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 13 | Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 14 | Andrea Pasqualon (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) | ,, |
| 15 | Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 16 | Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 17 | Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) | ,, |
| 18 | Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) | ,, |
| 19 | Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) | ,, |
| 20 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
