It was a day made for Sylvain Chavanel, and Chavanel made the most of it

(Photo: Roberto Bettini)

Sylvain Chavanel of Quick Step claimed his second career Tour de France stage win today in Spa, Belgium, donning the yellow jersey of race leader in the process. Back at the Tour after suffering a fractured skull in April when he crashed into a team car at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Today, Chavanel found redemption on some of those very same roads as the race covered territory familiar to the fabled spring classic.

"There's a lot of emotion," he gasped at the finish. "I don't know what to say. It's the most beautiful day of my career."

Chavanel crossed the line, kissing a medallion he wore around his neck, a gift from his wife on father's day bearing the names of his two sons to whom he had promised a kiss should he have the occasion to win alone.

The day was marked by an eight man breakaway, spearheaded by Chavanel and his teammate Jérôme Pineau not long after the peloton rolled out of the Belgian capital city of Brussels. The group gained a maximum lead of more than six minutes before the peloton began to react. With a challenging second half of the race course offering few moments of respite, the day was tailor-made to a breakaway and the initiative of a rider like Chavanel.

Belgium's Jurgen Roelandts briefly joined Chavanel in his late escape from the break, but the Frenchman was not to be denied his solo glory. On the Col de Stockeu with little more than 30km to race, Chavanel kicked again and left Roelandts behind, setting off on his solo bid.

Saxo Bank had taken responsibility to lead the chase, looking after Fabian Cancellara and the leader's yellow jersey, but the impetus would quickly go out of the group as wet roads and a series of accidents on the descent of the Stockeu dramatically changed the day's outlook for the sprinters and overall favorites alike.

"Crash after crash after crash"

While Chavanel forged ahead, crashes began to wreak havoc on the main field through a series of narrow, twisting descents, notably on the downside of the Col de Stockeu. Among those to go down were yellow jersey Cancellara and his Saxo Bank team leader, Andy Schleck. While Cancellara was up and riding quickly, rejoining the peloton without trouble, Schleck was clearly in pain, holding his left wrist. He would finish in the main field but the damage will no doubt be prove a challenge in tomorrow's rough ride over the cobblestones of northern France.

Alberto Contador (Astana), Lance Armstrong (RadioShack), Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky), and a host of other contenders for the overall title went down at some point or another. Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Transitions) may have fared the worst, finishing nearly 10 minutes down on Chavanel and losing more than six minutes to his rivals. He now sits in 146th place overall. The remainder of the contenders survived to finish in the main field. Vande Velde and his teammates Julian Dean and Tyler Farrar were taken to a hospital in Liège for evaluation after their crashes, as were Katusha's Robbie McEwen and Vladimir Karpets.

Stage 1 winner Alessandro Petacchi was one of many to hit the deck Monday

(Photo: Roberto Bettini)

The peloton arrived in Spa together, deciding not to contest the field sprint for second place out of frustration and resignation for the difficult and accident-prone day of racing. After a discussion with the director of competition, Jean-François Pescheux, Fabian Cancellara spread that word that points would not be awarded toward the green jersey competition beyond Chavanel's first place. For the weary field, just finishing in one piece was enough.

"It was obvious that you had people everywhere," Armstrong explained after the stage. "It was almost unreal. When I got back on my bikeand started chasing, I saw crash after crash after crash... I was scared. I think everyone is scared in a situation like that."

Not everyone was pleased with the slow finish, however, and the sprinters who did make the cut early on were not pleased to have their chances denied for the sake of the unlucky stragglers behind.

"I feel frustrated by what happened today," said Thor Hushovd of the Cervélo TestTeam. "Our team was working hard and we would have had a good chance for victory. I feel like they have taken something away from us today."

"There were a few sprinters who did not make it to the front group, but there was no reason to not contest the sprint today," he added. "Everyone made a gentleman’s agreement not to sprint, but I lost an important opportunity to try to win the stage and gain points."

Chavanel receives the first maillot jaune of his career in Spa

(Photo: Roberto Bettini)

Yellow Road Ahead

For Chavanel, however, the fact that the field was slowing down behind was nothing but good news. Although he said he didn't know much of the decisions made on the road behind him, he made no apologies for taking full advantage of the occasion.

"That's part of racing," he said of the day's events. "Jérôme and I chose to be in the breakaway and in a stage like this it's always better to be out front than in the peloton because the roads are narrow and slippery."

"The crashes don't take anything away from my victory," he insisted repeatedly. "I've had enough bad luck in my career, being caught one or two kilometers from the line, today was my day and if the field decided not to chase, I was going to take full advantage."

He can look forward to a likely stint of several days in yellow assuming he passes through the pavé (cobblestones) of stage 3 intact. Chavanel is an experienced campaigner in Paris-Roubaix and barring bad luck should conserve his jersey. A series of flat stages to follow will also help his chances for yellow jerseys until the race reaches the mountains.

Stage 3 Preview

Tuesday's stage 3 is the day that has been on everybody's mind since the race route was announced last October. While essentially a flat stage, the challenge to the riders will come in the form of seven cobblestone sections from the famed Paris-Roubaix classic. The sections all fall within the last 40 kilometers of racing between Wanze, Belgium and Arenberg Porte du Hainaut, France, with the final section at Haveluy coming just 10km from the finish.

When the riders and experts are asked how best to attack the cobbles, the answer is unanimous: stay up front. Even though some general classification riders may not be particularly well-suited to the rough roads of northern France, none will have an excuse not to fight for position to reach the cobbles up front. It will be a tough day of racing for all, and the well-drilled classics teams such as Saxo Bank and RadioShack will be best equipped to watch out for their team leaders. Defending Tour champion Alberto Contador may be a newcomer to the cobbles but he will likely have the drive to fight for position up front.

Lance Armstrong is arguably the most experienced of the current favorites on the cobbles, and his RadioShack team will know how to keep him up front and protected. Look for world champion Cadel Evans of BMC to fare well too. Positioning and strength will determine who flies and who falters on what most expect to be a dramatic day of racing.

Results:

Stage 2: Brussels to Spa, 201km

1. Sylvain Chavanel (FRA) Quick Step in 4 hours 40 minutes 48 seconds

2. Maxime Bouet (FRA) AG2R La Mondiale   at 3 min 56 sec

3. Fabian Wegmann (GER) Milram   same time

4. Robbie McEwen (AUS) Katusha   s.t.

5. Christian Knees (GER) Milram   s.t.

6. Jurgen Roelandts (BEL) Omega Pharma-Lotto   s.t.

7. Thor Hushovd (NOR) Cervélo TestTeam   s.t.

8. Linus Gerdemann (GER) Milram   s.t.

9. Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA) La Française des Jeux   s.t.

10. Bernhard Eisel (AUT) HTC-Columbia   s.t.

General classification after stage 2:

1. Sylvain Chavanel (FRA) Quick Step in 10 hours 1 minute 25 seconds

2. Fabian Cancellara (SUI) Saxo Bank   at 2 min 57 sec

3. Tony Martin (GER) HTC-Columbia   3 min 07 sec

4. David Millar (GBR) Garmin-Transitions   3 min 17 sec

5. Lance Armstrong (USA) RadioShack   3 min 19 sec

6. Geraint Thomas (GBR) Team Sky   3 min 20 sec

7. Alberto Contador (ESP) Astana   3 min 24 sec

8. Levi Leipheimer (USA) RadioShack   3 min 25 sec

9. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR) Team Sky   3 min 29 sec

10. Linus Gerdemann (GER) Milram   3 min 32 sec