Hushovd: “It's a good start!”

The Progress Report _ The 164.5km second stage began at 1.11pm with 179 riders at the start. Light rain fell in Auray but conditions cleared in the first hour and the race was contested mainly on dry roads. The stage to St-Brieuc included four climbs – at Bieuzy-Lanvaux (cat-4, at 23.5km), Kergroix (cat-4 at 43km), the Mur-de-Bretagne (cat-3 at 92km) and the cote de Saint-Mayeux (cat-4 at 96km). The intermediate sprints were in Camors (28.5km), Pontivy (74km) and Corlay (103km). _ _ Two Frenchman Establish Escape _ Danny Pate of the Garmin team was the first to attack; he launched his bid in the first kilometer and was joined by eight others including Fischer (LIQ), Sylvain Chavanel (COF), Wegmann (GST), Eisel (THR) and Voigt (CSC). Bouygues Telecom was determined to reel in the escape before the first ascent and they achieved just that; catching the eight at 21.5km, the base of the cote de Bieuzy-Lanvaux. The rider in the polka-dot jersey, Voeckler (BTL) then tried to claim first place at the summit but his effort was foiled by Chavanel. Schroder (MRM) was third. The two French riders insisted with their effort; Chavanel taking first at the sprint (35” ahead of the peloton) and Voeckler leading over the second climb (4’00” ahead of the peloton). The average for the first hour was 44.8km/h. _ _ Chavanel & Voeckler’s Collaboration… _ The maximum gain of the escape was 6’25” with 100km to go. Once the escape was established, the Caisse d’Epargne team took charge of the peloton and set the tempo. The average speed for the 2nd hour was 42.6km/h. Jalabert crashed in the feedzone but remounted quickly. Chavanel led Voeckler over the line at the second intermediate sprint and they collaborated well through to the Mur-de-Bretagne. At the top Chavanel again claimed first-place points, 2’00” ahead of an attack by two Agritubel riders – Moreau and Lelay. These two counter-attackers insisted with their effort and by the fourth climb they were 2’00” behind the leading pair with the peloton at 3’30”. By the 3rd sprint, the two leaders were 53” ahead of Lelay and Moreau and 3’15” ahead of the peloton. _ _ Four French In Lead _ With 57km to go, Lelay and Moreau caught Voeckler and Chavanel. The peloton was behind by 2’55”. At this time, the FDJ team sent riders to the head of the peloton to take responsibility for the pursuit of the four French riders. With 50km to go, the advantage dropped to 2’35”; 40km – 1’55”… the average for the third hour was 39.4km/h. Soler was dropped by the peloton with 27km to go. At 25km the deficit of the peloton to the four escapees was 1’00”, and Soler was at 2’35”. _ _ Setting Up The Sprint _ Chavanel attacked his escape companions with 3km to go and, by then the sprint teams were lined up to send their leaders into overdrive. Quickstep controlled the peloton as they swallowed up Moreau, Lelay and Voeckler. Then Caisse d’Epargne took over with Valverde in second wheel at the moment they caught Chavanel (with about 1,500m to to). Under the ‘flamme rouge’ Cancellara launched an attack but he was caught 500m from the line. Mark Renshaw flew past the Swiss rider and then his captain, Thor Hushovd finished off a great lead-out job. Two Columbia riders were closing in but the Norwegian had the jump and would never be caught. It is sixth victory from sixth Tour starts.