Tour de France 2007/2. stage

Result of the 2nd stage
Stage winner	Gert Steegmans	3:48:22 h (44.271 km / h)
Second	Tom Boonen	equal time
Third	Filippo Pozzato	equal time
Fourth	Robert Hunter	equal time
fifth	Romain Feillu	equal time
Sixth	Robbie McEwen	equal time
seventh	Erik Zabel	equal time
Eighth	Heinrich Haussler	equal time
Ninth	Óscar Freire	equal time
Tenth	Sébastien Chavanel	equal time
Most combative driver	Marcel Sieberg
Intermediate results after the 2nd stage
Yellow jersey	Fabian Cancellara	8:36:13 h
Second	Andreas Klöden	+ 0:13 min
Third	David Millar	+ 0:21 min
Green jersey	Tom Boonen	56 P.
Second	Robbie McEwen	55 p.
Third	Gert Steegmans	46 P.
Dotted jersey	David Millar	5 p.
Second	Stéphane Augé	5 p.
Third	Freddy Bichot	3 p.
White jersey	Vladimir Gusev	8:36:38 h
Second	Thomas Dekker	+ 0:06 min
Third	Benoît Vaugrenard	+ 0:07 min
Team evaluation	Team Astana	25:49:57 h
Second	Team CSC	+ 0:02 min
Third	Discovery Channel	+ 0:05 min

The 2nd stage of the Tour de France 2007 on July 9th was 168.5 kilometers long and, after a transfer to the French mainland , took the riders from the coastal city of Dunkirk through Flanders to Ghent in Belgium . The second flat stage of the tour featured a total of three intermediate sprints.

After the section had started quietly, the German Marcel Sieberg from Team Milram launched the first attack at race kilometer 18. He was joined by two other drivers, Rubén Pérez and Cédric Hervé . The trio extended their lead to a maximum of 5:55 minutes up to kilometer 69, before the teams in the main field, led by Team CSC , slowly began to organize the pursuit. As a result, the outliers' lead shrank continuously. About five kilometers from the finish, Sieberg tried to attack from the lead group after the trio was still about 20 seconds ahead, but was unable to break away from his fellow competitors. Further attacks by Pérez and Hervé were equally unsuccessful.

The attempt to escape ended two kilometers later and the peloton drove into Ghent as a single unit, before a mass fall occurred three kilometers from the finish in the front part of the field, in which around 20 riders were directly involved. The trigger was Milram captain Erik Zabel , who brought down Manuel Quinziato from Team Liquigas with an evasive maneuver , but was able to continue himself. Due to the narrowed road, the drivers behind could not pass the spot at first and so a group of around 25 drove onto the home straight. There Gert Steegmans , actually a driver for Tom Boonen , won ahead of him and Filippo Pozzato . Most recently, a Belgian driver, Marc Wauters, won a stage finish in Belgium in 2001 .

Fabian Cancellara defended the yellow jersey, even though he was involved in the mass fall, as residues caused by falls over the last three kilometers are not included in the overall standings. Likewise also kept David Millar and Vladimir Gusev their jerseys, and the Astana team the lead in the team standings. In the battle for the green jersey, Tom Boonen took the lead one point ahead of Robbie McEwen .

Intermediate sprints

The runaway trio: Marcel Sieberg , Rubén Pérez and Cédric Hervé

1st intermediate sprint in Ypres (km 45) (7 m above sea level)

First	Cédric Hervé	6 p. And 6 s
Second	Rubén Pérez	4 p. And 4 s
Third	Marcel Sieberg	2 P. and 2 s

2nd intermediate sprint in Westende (kilometer 81.5) (6 m above sea level)

First	Marcel Sieberg	6 p. And 6 s
Second	Cédric Hervé	4 p. And 4 s
Third	Rubén Pérez	2 P. and 2 s

3rd intermediate sprint in Aarsele (140.5 km) (17 m above sea level)

First	Rubén Pérez	6 p. And 6 s
Second	Cédric Hervé	4 p. And 4 s
Third	Marcel Sieberg	2 P. and 2 s

Individual evidence

1. ↑ de.eurosport.yahoo.com, mass crash after Zabel mishap ( memento from September 20, 2007 in the Internet Archive )