Stage 2

The road

At the start

Thomas in yellow, Valverde gone

Geraint Thomas won the wet time trial and wears the first yellow jersey, five seconds up on Stefan Küng and twelve on his own leader Chris Froome. Alejandro Valverde and Ion Izagirre both crashed out of it and have gone home before the race properly began. Today runs 205 kilometres from Düsseldorf into Belgium, the Côte d'Olne 22 kilometres from the line, and a flat finish in Liège the sprinters have circled.

How it was won

1. 185 km to go

   Slips on the greasy roads

   On a slick, rain-soaked run into Belgium, Froome and Bardet both hit the deck but remount without losing time.

2. 2At the line

   Kittel powers home in Liège

   From behind, Marcel Kittel unleashes a late surge to win in Liège — the 10th Tour stage victory of his career.

The result