Tour de France 2017 stage 2: Düsseldorf - Liége 203,5 km

[Simurgh]

Stage 2: Düsseldorf - Liége 203,5 km

Christian Prudhomme's comment:

Most of the stage will take place in Germany. During the last visits to Liège during the 21st century, the riders battled it out on time-trials while those who normally shine on Liège-Bastogne-Liège are among the best punchers of the moment. This time, a sprint victory is to be expected on the boulevard de la Sauvenière.

A sprint finish is to be expected. Will the bunch sprints be dominated by one rider this year, or will the wins between sprinters be more spread out? Winning the first sprint stage is something, that will give a morale boost to the winner, so expect a very tough fight for the win tomorrow! Furthermore the green jersey will be more contested because of the new points system, encouraging stage wins to get a tight grip of the maillot vert.

Hopefully we shall avoid crashes.

Stage profile:

Weather forecast, Liége tomorrow afternoon:

UPDATED WEATHER FORECAST for Liége today:

GC after today's stage:

Notables outside GC top 10:
Nairo QUINTANA at +48''
Rafal MAJKA at +49''
Romain BARDET at +51''
Fabio ARU at +52''
Alberto CONTADOR at +54''
Jakob FUGLSANG at +54''
Louis MEINTJES at +1'12

DNF's today:
Alejandro VALVERDE (Team Movistar)
Ion IZAGIRRE (Bahrain-Merida)

 

[Red Rick]

This stage is criminal

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Hopefully another Brit can win a stage expressly designed for a German who couldn't deliver on the day. Alas unlikely.

 

[jsem94]

Terrible waste of a stage from the designers...

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

This stage is criminal

It's almost like having a Giro sprint stage finishing in Cortina d'Ampezzo.
Anyway, Scheldemerckx ftw.

 

[TomLPC]

Hoping a preposterous stage is met with an equally ridiculous winner

Come on Betancur

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Kittel looked super strong today. He will get his first stage win here.

 

[Valv.Piti]

I don't plan on watching, the race already feels like its over before its properly begun yet. Saddening.

 

[DFA123]

The only interesting thing left in this race will be to see if Kittel can win about 8 stages to deny Sagan the green jersey.

I hope he does, just to show what a farce this route is.

 

[JosephK]

Stage 2? It's gonna be Froome blasting by Kittel, Greipel, Cavendish, and Sagan to take the stage win! Easy call. LOL.

 

[Põhja Konn]

Impossible to see past Kittel here. The less said about the stage design, the better.

 

[deValtos]

Stage 2? It's gonna be Froome blasting by Kittel, Greipel, Cavendish, and Sagan to take the stage win! Easy call. LOL.

I am going to agree with this. I think Froome wins stage 2.

 

[Tank Engine]

Standard fare for the first week of the tour. It's a chance for 3 or 4 riders from the 2nd division teams to show themselves in a break,followed by the Quick-Step train taking over for a Kittel win.

 

[barmaher]

What on Earth were they thinking? A travesty of a stage design.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

Standard fare for the first week of the tour. It's a chance for 3 or 4 riders from the 2nd division teams to show themselves in a break,followed by the Quick-Step train taking over for a Kittel win.

Unfortunately, it's standard fare for the first three weeks this year.

 

[Hayabusa]

Stage 1 was designed for Martin but he didn't turn up in top form. This stage is for Kittel. Germany hopeful of a home win and I believe they'll get it tomorrow.

 

[Ricco']

Re:

Stage 1 was designed for Martin but he didn't turn up in top form. This stage is for Kittel. Germany hopeful of a home win and I believe they'll get it tomorrow.

Last time I saw, Liège is in Belgium.

 

[Hayabusa]

Re: Re:

Stage 1 was designed for Martin but he didn't turn up in top form. This stage is for Kittel. Germany hopeful of a home win and I believe they'll get it tomorrow.

Last time I saw, Liège is in Belgium.

Meh ignore me, home start so half a home win... :razz:

 

[Robert5091]

Will Sky defend the yellow jersey? Even with time bonuses it looks like the breakaway would have to succeed for Sky to give up yellow. My idea of Thomas and Gilbert fighting out for GC does not seem so crazy now! Gilbert to go from 25 km out.

 

[Samamba]

Frist of 6 victories for Kittel.

 

[jaylew]

What exactly am I missing about the stage design that's so bad? I mean it's a first week Tdf stage. Seems much better than others we've had.

 

[Tank Engine]

Re:

What exactly am I missing about the stage design that's so bad? I mean it's a first week Tdf stage. Seems much better than others we've had.

A lot is related to the fact that the stage finishes in Liege and so they could at least make the sprinters work harder for a chance of victory.

Having said that, I can't imagine that Liege could look worse than it does in the final kilometers of LBL, so it might even be an improvement

 

[Tonton]

Re:

I don't plan on watching, the race already feels like its over before its properly begun yet. Saddening.

Come on Valv.Piti! You don't want tomiss Nono's first TdF stage win...

Yes, Demare to slay the German Drago(n). Mark my words .

 

[Nirvana]

Tomorrow will be the perfect day to sleep on the couch :lol:
The only interesting thing could be a crashfest in case of rain.

Anyway i understand the organizers choice with the puncheur stage on the next day.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

This stage is criminal

It's almost like having a Giro sprint stage finishing in Cortina d'Ampezzo.
Anyway, Scheldemerckx ftw.

Yeah, could say similar things about a few other stages in foreign GT starts over the years. But it hasn't gotten as blatant as this one.