Stage 2

The road

At the start

Cavendish gone, nine hills to Sheffield

Mark Cavendish does not start, his home Tour finished on the tarmac of Harrogate after a single afternoon, and Marcel Kittel wears the yellow jersey he won in that sprint. Today is a Belgian classic transplanted to Yorkshire: 204 kilometres and nine climbs, Holme Moss the longest of them, and the wall of Jenkin Road — 33 per cent in places — only eight kilometres from Sheffield.

How it was won

1. 161 km to go

   Holme Moss and a wall of people

   The biggest climb of the English roads is lined by an enormous, roaring crowd. Voeckler's forcing has broken the break apart and only Blel Kadri is still clear at the front, with Voeckler and Edet scrapping behind him.

2. 237 km to go

   Garmin turn the screw

   Slagter and Talansky take the scraps of points on the sixth climb of the day, but the tempo is doing the real damage: the front group is down to twenty or thirty riders.

3. 329 km to go

   Sky take control

   With thirty kilometres left Froome sends his team to the front over Bradfield, and the last of the escapees are hauled back one by one.

4. 48 km to go

   Froome first over Jenkin Road

   A category four climb at 33 per cent in places, five kilometres from Sheffield. Froome attacks near the top and catches everyone cold; Van Garderen leads the chase back, and Fuglsang counters on the descent.

5. 52 km to go

   Nibali jumps with 2km left

   Attack has followed attack and Sagan has marked them all — and then the Italian champion goes, on a nondescript rise in a Sheffield suburb, and nobody moves. Porte and Sagan stare at one another, the chase never organises, and the Tour de France has its first real statement of intent.

6. 6At the line

   Yellow for Nibali

   Two seconds is all he needs. Van Avermaet leads the group in ahead of Kwiatkowski, and Vincenzo Nibali pulls on the maillot jaune in Sheffield.

The result