Despite two
interesting stages with a lot of drama we haven’t really seen anything we didn’t
expect. Fabian Cancellara won the prologue like he was supposed to and Peter
Sagan did the same in his very first Tour de France - giving a special bike for
Stage 2 with “Tourminator” written on
the frame. I don’t think much will happen on this stage and anything but a bunch
sprint will be a massive surprise, the way I see it.
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The good
thing is that for once we have a lot of fast guys who can actually win the
stage. It’s not just Mark Cavendish anymore. Andre Greipel, Marcel Kittel and
of course Sagan the Tourminator will all have a crack at it. In the past
Cavendish’ team has been taking responsibility early on, starting to bring back
the break away, but that won’t happen this year. It’s all for Bradley Wiggins
now and therefore it’s up to the other teams to take control. One of those teams
are Argos-Shimano, team of the German sprinter Marcel Kittel and despite this
being their first Tour de France, Argos-Shimano are to take responsibility. “We
know we have one of best sprinters in the race, so we owe to act accordingly”.
An impressive statement from a Wild Card team!
The final
kilometers towards the finish line are pretty straight forward but not without
two roundabouts within the last 2000 meters. Right after the gate to the last
kilometer the road bends slightly to the left before the last 600 meters straight
out to the finish line. Both Lotto-Belisol and Argos-Shimano have a strong lead
out train ready to roll and I think whoever of those two taking the lead will
bring their sprinter first to the line. Mark Cavendish normally doesn’t do well
in the first bunch sprint in the big stage races and with only two guys to help
him I think it will be a real power sprinter like Greipel or Kittel who takes
the win.
My pick:
Marcel Kittel to win Stage 2.
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