Tour de France 2017, stage two: Marcel Kittel sprints to victory as Geraint Thomas retains lead despite Team Sky pile-up

• Stage two results and standings after Kittel wins sprint finish

• Beginners' guide: What are the rules, what do the jerseys mean?

• Remaining riders after Durbridge abandons during stage two

• How to follow this year's Tour de France on TV and online

Just two stages in and Team Sky have already packed in enough action for an entire three-week grand tour. Having grabbed the yellow jersey and placed four riders inside the top eight in Saturday’s opening day time trial – a performance which prompted complaints from rival teams about their skinsuit – Sunday saw five of their number, including the race leader Geraint Thomas and the race favourite Chris Froome, crash in treacherous, slippery conditions on the road to Liege.

Fortunately for Sky, both Froome and Thomas emerged relatively unscathed after a Katusha rider lost control 18 miles from the finish, causing carnage in the bunch. Thomas retained the yellow jersey and Froome lived to fight another day as Marcel Kittel [Quick-Step Floors] won the bunch sprint in the Belgian city. But it was heart-in-mouth stuff. Froome slid backside-first into a central reservation, ripping a hole in his bib shorts and briefly reigniting memories of his crash in similarly treacherous conditions on stage five in northern France back in 2014, when a fractured wrist eventually forced him to retire. This time, the three-time champion was able to ride on, being paced back to the bunch by three teams, albeit he twice had to switch bikes. He later dismissed his wounds as nothing more than road rash.

“I slid on my backside,” he said. “That’s the nature of the race, with slippery conditions like that. Every time we put the race numbers on we know there’s a big risk. It was just a touch of wheels or someone slid just ahead of me. And at those speeds you can’t avoid it. I think a few of us went down but thankfully everyone is OK and got to the finish without losing any time to our rivals – that was the main thing.”

Team Sky’s road captain Luke Rowe, who also came down along with Christian Knees and Michal Kwiatkowski, had a tougher time of it, trailing home on his own nearly 14min in arrears. The Welshman, who is hugely important to Froome’s chances of overall victory, went for a precautionary scan after the stage as there was a head impact when he crashed. He's back with the team at their hotel and fine to continue.

The domino reaction also took down last year’s runner-up, Romain Bardet [AG2R], who also survived unscathed.

Taylor Phinney (Cannondale-Drapac) and Yoann Offredo (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), who emerged from the day’s breakaway to press on as a duo, battled bravely to hold off the charging peloton, getting caught only in the final kilometre as the sprint trains moved to the front.

Kittel opened up his sprint with around 150 metres to go with Mark Cavendish [Dimension Data] – still feeling his way back after glandular fever – initially managing to get on to the German’s wheel only to lose it to Arnaud Demare (FDJ), who took second. Cavendish eventually managed fourth spot; a creditable result in the circumstances, while another Briton, Ben Swift, managed seventh.

Behind them, a relieved Froome and Thomas finished with the main bunch, Thomas retaining the yellow jersey and, barring further misfortune, likely to keep it for at least another day with today’s third stage from Verviers to Longwy also likely to end in a sprint, albeit a nasty uphill one that will most likely favour a rider such as Peter Sagan.

Thomas – the first Welshman ever to wear the yellow jersey, admitted it had been a stressful day.

“It was a really nice feeling [wearing the jersey],” he told Eurosport. “The rain certainly made it a bit more stressful but having the jersey was good for morale.

“We were in a good position all day, but having said that we still managed to get caught up in that crash. Some guys came down in front of us and there was nowhere to go. But it was OK. We were going pretty slow at the time.

“Obviously the initial minute or two afterwards, it was like: ‘Is everyone OK?’ But once everyone was back on their bikes and going and everyone said they were OK, it was all good. Froomey had to change his bike and things but fortunately the pace wasn’t super-fast at the time. Hopefully I can keep the yellow jersey for as long as possible, but the overall goal doesn’t change and that is to help Froomey.” 

 
Agency

4:08PM

Kittel wins stage four; Thomas retains yellow jersey

Following a fairly disorganised final stretch, Marcel Kittel of the Quick-Step Floors team opened up his sprint with around 150 metres to go before winning stage two of the Tour de France. Arnaud Démare took second with André Greipel third and Mark Cavendish claiming a morale-boosting fourth. Another Briton, Ben Swift, managed a top -10 placing after the UAE Team Emirates rider finished in seventh spot between Sonny Colbrelli and Nacer Bouhanni.

After winning the 10th Tour de France stage of his career the German sprinter fell to the floor and broke down in tears.

Geraint Thomas, meanwhile, finished safely in the bunch to retain his leader's yellow jersey which he will wear for a second day on Monday. The achievement will mean British riders will leapfrog their Dutch cousins into eighth spot in the all-time list of days spent in yellow per country when a Briton will wear the maillot jaune for the 73rd time.

Unsurprisingly, France are the most successful with 709 days in yellow and they are followed by Belgium (426), Italy (208), Spain (135), Luxembourg (96), Germany (75) and Switzerland (75).

Thomas's team-mate and defending champion Chris Froome after the race played down the incident that saw him lose some skin after skidding along the road on his backside following that earlier crash.

"No injuries, thankfully," said Froome. "I just lost a little bit of skin on my backside. But that’s the nature of the race. We knew, it’s slippery conditions like that. Today there was just a touch of wheels or someone slid just a few wheels ahead of me, and at those speeds you can’t avoid it.

"Luckily everyone’s OK and we got to the finish without losing any time on our rivals."

4:05PM

Heartbreak for breakway

Taylor Phinney and Yoann Offredo are caught in the final kilometre. Supremely brave effort from the pair. Game on!

4:04PM

2km to go

I think they are now going to be caught. Taylor Phinney and Yoann Offredo's  lead is just 10sec now. 

4:03PM

3km to go

Quick-Step Floors are now on the front and the leading pair's advantage has dropped to 21sec.

4:02PM

4km to go

The peloton is fanning out as the road widens, but there's only four kilometres of road to go. This would be a hugely popular and memorable win if Taylor Phinney (Cannondale-Drapac) and Yoann Offredo (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) can hold on. How thrilling!

4:01PM

5km to go

The lead is hanging at around 30sec.

4:01PM

6km to go

Taylor Phinney (Cannondale-Drapac) and Yoann Offredo (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) are holding their lead. The peloton has yet to get itself organised, but they will need to start putting the Watts in soon if they are to catch this leading duo.

3:58PM

8km to go

The duo's lead is dropping, understandably, but they still have 37sec on the chasing bunch. Further back, there's quite a bit of road furniture which is causing the bunch to split down the middle. The roads, by the way, are dry for the first time in hours.

3:57PM

9km to go

Bora-Hansgrohe, Quick-Step Floors and Lotto-Soudal all near the front of the peloton now, while Chris Froome who picked up a little dose of road rash in that earlier crash, has managed to get back in the bunch alongside team-mate and current maillot jauneGeraint Thomas.  The two-man break's lead has dropped to 47sec with just nine kilomters of road remaining. Could Taylor Phinney do the improbable here?

3:52PM

And then there were two

Thomas Boudat, the young Direct Énergie rider, has now been caught and so there's just Taylor Phinney and Yoann Offredo up the road now and their advantage is growing! The pair are working well together, riding through-and-off, and their lead has increased to 55sec with just 12 kilometres remaining.

3:49PM

15km to go

Taylor Phinney (Cannondale-Drapac) and Yoann Offredo (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) have gone over the top of the Côte d'Olne and have dropped their fellow breakaway riders. One imagines they will be caught soon, so both now will be scrapping over who wins the combativity award for the day and get the honour of wearing a red bib number on Monday. The duo's lead is hanging at around 45sec.

The speeding peloton, meanwhile, is about to catch Laurent Pichon who is labouring.

3:46PM

Phinney pips Pichon

Laurent Pichon jumped off the front around 100 metres from the summit of Côte d'Olne, but Taylor Phinney responded quickly and managed to pip him on the line to add a second point in the mountains classification to his tally. The Cannondale-Drapac rider will, assuming he finishes safely today, wear the maillot à pois on Monday's third stage into France. 

3:42PM

Froome desperate for new bike

Chris Froome is gesturing to his team car, he picked up a temporary bike following that crash and it was clearly too small for him. Perhaps he took one from a mountain domestique Mikel Nieve? Anyway, he's back on a bike that looks a lot more comfortable now.

Back at the front of the race, Taylor Phinney and his fellow breakaway riders are now heading up the Côte d'Olne.

3:37PM

Team Sky crash en masse

There's just been a re-run of the incident and it would appear that, in fact, in was Team Sky sitting at the front of the peloton that caused the crash. Looks like somebody simply lost their front wheel as they went through some standing water on the road. Everybody back on their bike, I think, and chasing back on.

As a result of that worrying crash, the four-man breakaway's advantage has grown slightly to 50sec.

3:33PM

Big crash

A number of riders, including French hopeful Romain Bardet of Ag2r-La Mondiale, just went down after the peloton was coming off a roundabout. As the road swung around to the right, a whole bunch hit the deck. I thought I saw a few Team Sky riders go down too, but difficult to say.

3:29PM

32km to go

Katusha-Alpecin, FDJ and Bora-Hansgrohe are all near the front of the peloton working for sprinters Alexander Kristoff, Arnaud Démare and Peter Sagan. Team Sky,, obviously, are there too making sure maillot jaune Geraint Thomas stays out of trouble. 

Thibaut Pinot, meanwhile, has popped out of the back.

3:26PM

35km to go

The leading four-man group is around 16km from the foot of the Côte d'Olne now and Laurent Pichon is starting to struggle, the Fortuneo-Oscaro rider keeps bouncing off the back but is digging deep and keeps getting back on. Taylor Phinney, as you will probably know, is a strong time triallist so he will be working hard pulling the group along, but will be mindful to leave something in the tank before launching an attack on the climb.

Their advantage, by the way, has dropped to 45sec.

3:21PM

40km to go

The rain is starting to have an impact on the leading four-man breakaway whose advantage has dropped quite significantly to a shade over a minute. The big question now is: can they hold on all the way to the second and final categorised climb of the day, the Côte d'Olne? Come on guys, can't we just let Taylor Phinney get the point so the Cannondale-Drapac rider can wear the polka dots tomorrow?

3:13PM

45km to go

Conditions out on the road are getting worse and I'm hearing that it's raining at the finish in Liège now. Let's hope everybody can stay safe once the pace ramps up and riders start jockeying for position.

It looks quite windy out there, but they are tapping away along a tree-lined road so they have some shelter. Oh, there's quite a bit of road furniture too so I expect there will be a lot of very nervous directeur sportifs right now.

2:57PM

55km to go

Just spoke to Tom Cary, our man out in the field. He's currently sat in the delightful looking media centre in Liège after driving across the border from Germany.

Tom said it was "grey and overcast, but currently dry" near the finish line where the main talking point of the day, thus far at least, is how long Team Sky's Geraint Thomas can keep hold of his yellow jersey. Ed Pickering, editor of Procycling and a former colleague here at Telegraph Towers, reckons he may hold onto it for two weeks. Whether or not Ed has been drinking Belgian beer cannot be confirmed.

The general feeling among the press pack was that the grand départ had felt a little underwhelming thanks to the weather. Shame.

Anyway, back on the road the leading riders have increased their advantage to 2min 25sec. The next key point in the race will come in around 30 kilometres when they hit the category four Côte d'Olne. Remember, there's just one point on offer at the summit and Taylor Phinney has the only other point given out today after cresting the Côte de Grafenberg after just 7km so should the Cannondale-Drapac rider scoop up the point then he will wear the first mountains classification jersey at this year's race during Monday's third stage.

2:43PM

So, who are the contenders for the stage?

As mentioned at the start of the day, I think today's stage will be won by Quick-Step Floors's German sprinter Marcel Kittel. However, there area handful of other riders who will have designs on winning the first of nine possible sprint finishes at this year's Tour de France.

André Greipel, Kittel's compatriot riding for the Lotto-Soudal team, has won a stage at every Tour has has started and already has a grand tour win on the season's palmarès after his stage two victory at the Giro d'Italia in May. His team, too, are pretty decent in crosswinds should they turn out to play a determining factor today.

Arnaud Démare (FDJ), Dylan Groenewegen (Lotto NL-Jumbo), Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis), Michael Matthews (Sunweb), John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo), Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin) and, of course, Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) will also fancy their chances in Liège a little later. 

And then there's Mark Cavendish, the greatest sprinter the Tour has ever seen. With already 30 stages on his bulging palmarès the Dimension Data rider who arrived at the race out of form, must never be discounted. In an interview with the Telegraph Cycling Podcast, Cavendish admitted he was the most relaxed he has ever been at the race, though also said he had only been training properly for six weeks now after  being diagnosed with Epstein-Barr syndrome earlier this year. However, he also said that luck can play part, so who knows? 

Another Briton to watch out for is Dan McLay of the newly-named Fortuneo-Oscaro team. To be fair, the New Zealand-born Englishman doesn't have any sort of lead-out train to speak of, but he didn't last year either but still posted some very impressive results.

The breakaway, by the way, is holding its lead at 1min 43sec. 

2:23PM

80 km to go

Right folks, I'm back and, like the riders out on the road, I've got my lunch. Not a great deal has happened in the race, the most interesting thing, perhaps, is the first signs of cross winds out in northern Europe. There was quite a bit of talk on Twitter last night about whether there would be crosswinds or head crosswinds, it appears to be the former, but nothing strong enough to shape the race. Not at the moment at least. By the way, if the strong crosswinds to turn up then don't be surprised if Quick-Step Floors take full advantage of the situation, the Belgian team are specialists at riding in these conditions and tearing a race to pieces.

The breakaway's advantage has dropped to below two minutes.

1:58PM

100km to go

The peloton has just under 100km to go now and I'm getting peckish – I may have to pop out for five minutes to grab a coffee and a sandwich. Speaking of eating, how do riders eat on the go and what do they fuel themselves with? ? I met up with James Morton, nutritionist for Team Sky, recently and he told us this . . . 

The four-man breakaway of Yoann Offredo (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Thomas Boudat (Direct Énergie), Taylor Phinney (Cannondale-Drapac), Laurent Pichon (Fortuneo-Oscaro), leads by 2min 20sec.

1:45PM

Intermediate sprint results: confirmed

1:36PM

Dreadful conditions out in Germany

It looks thoroughly miserable out there today as the rain lashes down. I'm sure the peloton will be cursing Boris Johnson right now because it's a most pleasant day in London and the south east of England where this stage would have been taking place hadn't the Tory politician pulled the plug on London hosting its second grand départ a couple of years ago. Damn you Boris, damn you! Full intermediate sprint results to follow soon.

Breakaway's advantage increases to 2min 40sec.

1:27PM

Kristoff opens up sprint to lead bunch over the line

Thomas Boudat, the young Frenchman that was brought into the Direct Énergie team in the place of naughty boy Bryan Coquard, pipped Taylor Phinney of Cannondale-Drapac to the line to take the first intermediate sprint. 

Laurent Pichonand Yoann Offredo followed before 2min 20sec later Alexander Kristoff  led the peloton over the line.

1:13PM

Heavens have opened

Following the terrible weather yesterday the peloton had been hoping today would be a little drier. Until now it had been, but riders are now starting to get their rain capes on and with the intermediate sprint coming up I'm sure a few will be getting slightly nervy on these wet, and no doubt, slippy roads. After the glorious weather that was afforded to the Giro d'Italia, perhaps the Tour is going to be a wet one?

The breakaway's gap has grown to 2min 28sec.

1:04PM

Calm before the (brief) storm

That four-man breakaway is continuing to plough away on the front. Their advantage has dropped a little, presumably a result of the peloton speeding up in the approach to the first intermediate sprint at this year's Tour de France in city of Mönchengladbach. Their lead is hanging at around 2min 20sec. 

Bora-Hansgrohe, Katusha and Lotto-Soudal are all pretty visible near the front of the bunch as the respective teams look to put fastmen Peter Sagan, Alexander Kristoff and André Greipel in a position to contest for the points on offer. Remember, Sagan who has won the past five green jerseys can equal Erik Zabel's record of six this year if he can make it all the way to Paris in three week's time sitting atop the points classification.

12:41PM

Team Sky given all clear 

It has been reported this morning by the Reuters news agency that two teams complained  about the jerseys worn by Team Sky riders during yesterday's time trial. However, Tour de France chiefs said earlier today that there was nothing untoward on the jerseys following the complaint that they had been designed to illegally boost aerodynamics.

The British team put four riders in the top eight of Saturday’s opening time trial, with Geraint Thomas taking the race leader’s yellow jersey.

Little bubble pads were seen on the upper arms and forearms on the jerseys of several Team Sky riders, including that of defending champion Chris Froome.

“It is an actual part of the jersey, it was not added,” race jury president Philippe Marien told Reuters.

International Cycling Union (UCI) regulations state: “Garments must not be adapted in any way such that they diverge from their use purely as clothing. The addition of any non-essential element or device to clothing is prohibited.”

“We summoned the team’s sports directors to check the jerseys. Nothing was added to them,” said Marien.

Reuters learnt that at least two rival teams had complained about the Team Sky jerseys ahead of Sunday’s 203.5-km ride to Liège.

The performance director of one team, who declined to be named, said they had tested the same kind of jersey and it gave riders a gain of at least one second per kilometre.

Team Sky sports director Nicolas Portal said on Sunday: “There are other teams who have been using it.” 

12:32PM

Auf Wiedersehen Düsseldorf

After completing a circuit of Düsseldorf the peloton will now head towards Mönchengladbach and later across the border into Belgium. The four-man breakaway's advantage has increased, ever-so-slightly, to 3min 20sec.

12:25PM

Kittel has a mechanical

Marcel Kittel, one of the favourites for today's stage, just pulled up at the side of the road for a wheel change. Presumably the German had suffered a puncture. He took a while to get the change, but he's using disc brakes so these things take a little while longer than if using the more traditional – and aesthetically​ pleasing – caliper system. Although this will have no impact on today's stage, it would be interesting to see what happened if a rider needing a change nearer the finish had disc brakes. The length of time a wheel change would take could be the difference between getting back on the back of the bunch of having to tap home all solo. Kittel, incidentally, is riding a Specialized bike who are extremely keen on promoting the use of disc brakes.

12:13PM

Durbridge abandons

Luke Durbridge, the big Aussie diesel who rides for the Orica-Scott team, has been forced to abandon the Tour de France. The 26-year-old was one of the many riders to come off their bikes yesterday during the time trial in Düsseldorf and picked up an injury to his ankle.

 That's not good news for Durbridge who was making his fourth appearance at the Tour de France, and nor is it good news for team-mates Simon Yates or Esteban Chaves who are both targeting jerseys at the race.

12:02PM

Poor Gallopin

If you thought Tony Martin has a disappointing day yesterday after the pre-stage favourite missed out on winning the opening day time trial on home turf, then spare a though for another Tony, Tony Gallopin. The Lotto-Soudal rider's day got under way at around 5.30am when his telephone started ringing, Rob Hatch of Eurosport has just informed us before Juan Antonio Flecha was heard in the background giggling away. Apparently it was the police telling Gallopin that his home had been broken into while his car had also been stolen. Later in the day, Gallopin crashed during his time trial and today started stage two with a swollen ankle. Ouch.

The four-man breakway's advantage has increased to 3min 15sec.

11:54AM

'Bernie Eisel playing with balloons' 

Bernhard Eisel, Mark Cavendish's right-hand man at Dimension Data, was just spotted clipping off the front of the peloton, picking up a bunch of ballons and riding off up the road. Presumably this was so that he could get them out of the way of the looming bunch before they caused a terrible crash.

Juan Antonio Flecha, though, saw things ever so slightly differently. 'Bernie Eisel playing with balloons,' the Eurosport commentator and former Team Sky rider just said.

11:47AM

Tour debutants

Incidentally, all four of these riders in the breakaway are making their Tour de France debuts this year. I was quite surprised to discover last week that this would be the first time Yoann Offredo rode at his home tour. You may remember the Frenchman for this unfortunate crash at Paris-Roubaix a few years ago. I always think about this when I'm riding in a big bunch, still makes me wince.

 Taylor Phinney, of course, has endured a terrible few years with injuries so it's great to see him here at the Tour this year. 

11:41AM

The gang of four

The four-man breakaway of Yoann Offredo (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Thomas Boudat (Direct Énergie), Taylor Phinney (Cannondale-Drapac), Laurent Pichon (Fortuneo-Oscaro) has already put 2min 30sec into the peloton and it was the American rider who took the single point on offer at the top of the Côte de Grafenberg after just seven kilometres of racing to become the virtual leader in the mountains classification.

11:34AM

And the flag has gone down

Christian Prudhomme, race director at the Tour de France, has dropped the flag and the racing is officially under way. Straight from the off a Direct Énergie and Fortuneo-Oscaro rider clipped off the front before they were joined by a pair from Wanty-Groupe Gobert and Cannondale-Drapac. Who would have guessed that would happen?

The quartet were not challenged at all by the peloton which is being led at the moment by Team Sky who are riding at roughly a snail's pace.

11:20AM

And they're off. Sort of ...

The riders have just set off from the starting line in Düsseldorf ahead of today's stage. They've got quite a long neutralised section to tap through and racing is due at get under way at roughly 11.30am (BST). Once it does start one imagines an early breakaway comprising Cofidis Solutions Crédits, Direct Énergie, Fortuneo-Oscaro, Wanty-Groupe Gobert riders, maybe even a Cannondale-Drapac rider, will be doing their best to clip off the front and get some lovely publicity time for their sponsors in this, the biggest moving advert in world cycling.

As you probably know, Geraint Thomas will be dressed in the yellow jersey today as leader in the general clssification while team-mate Vasil Kiryienka is dressed in green. Stefan Küng of BMC Racing, meanwhile, is in white while the Team Sky riders are all wearing yellow helmets as leaders in the teams classification. There's no polka dot jersey out on the road today, but the two classified climbs – Côte de Grafenberg and Côte d'Olne – in this stage will change that come about 4.30pm once the riders cross the line in Liège.

10:56AM

Morning all

Hello everybody, have we recovered from yesterday's little time trial around Düsseldorf? I'm not usually a huge fan of races against the clock – I think it must be a hangover of spending my childhood getting humiliated each Tuesday night in the club '10' – but Saturday's was full of action and intrigue. Sadly for Spanish riders Alejandro Valverde and Ion Izagirre it also marked the beginning of the end at this year's Tour de France after both crashed on the same corner. Valverde broke his left kneecap and fractured his Talus bone while Izagirre sustained a fractured lumbar which is not only terrible news for both riders, but also for their teams. Valverde was riding in support of Movistar team-mate Nairo Quintana while Izagirre, in Vincenzo Nibali's absence, had been handed leadership duties at Bahrain-Merida ​and was hoping to have a crack at the general classification.

Better news, of course, for Team Sky who had the best day imaginable after Geraint Thomas became the first Welshman to win a stage at the Tour to take the leader's yellow jersey while team-mate and defending champion Chris Froome did a decent ride to finish sixth overall, but more importantly put decent chunks of time into all of his general classification rivals.

Incidentally, the stage win for Thomas means the 31-year-old will today join fellow Britons Tom Simpson (1962), Chris Boardman (1994, 1997 and 1998), Sean Yates (1994), David Millar (2000), Sir Bradley Wiggins (2012), Chris Froome (2013, 2015 and 2016) and Mark Cavendish (2016) in wearing the yellow jersey on a day when Britain will draw level with Holland for number of days spent in the famous maillot jaune (72). 

But what of today's stage? I'll be honest, until this week I'd assumed the stage from Düsseldorf to Liège would conclude with a nasty little climb at the end à la Liège-Bastogne-Liège, however race designers appear to have found a route into the Belgian city that somehow circumnavigates the Ardennes hills. There are a few little lumps  – along with two category four climbs – along the route, but nothing too cause the riders too much concern.

As such, today is expected to finish in a bunch sprint finish and I'm going to lay my cards on the table here and say I think Marcel Kittel will be celebrating later on in Liège after his Quick-Step Floors team-mates deliver the German to the line and the Belgian team claim their first win of the race on home soil. There are, of course, plenty of other sprinters who will be vying for line honours alongside Kittel. More of them later.

By the way, Kittel starts the day 16sec behind Thomas on general classification and although there is a 10sec bonus on offer on the line for the stage winner, I cannot see the Team Sky rider losing his yellow jersey today. In fact, I wouldn't be too surprised to see Thomas wearing it all the way to stage five, the first mountain-top finish on La Planche des Belles Filles. Anyway, that's all just guesswork and speculation, the racing is starting in just under 10 minutes so let's concentrate on that for now.

10:12AM

The Telegraph Cycling Podcast: recap of stage one

Just in case you missed last night's Telegraph Cycling Podcast, here it is again for delectation while I pop out to get my morning coffee.

The rain fell as the Tour de France got underway in Düsseldorf but Geraint Thomas of Team Sky powered through the drizzle to win his first grand tour stage and take the yellow jersey.

In this episode of The Telegraph Cycling Podcast, Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and French journalist François Thomazeau discuss the opening day of the 2017 race and ask how long Thomas can hope to keep the yellow jersey.

The script said that Germany’s Tony Martin would win the stage and give the home nation a yellow jersey to cheer but it didn’t work out that way. We hear from Martin, Thomas and Richie Porte, who decided to exercise caution on the wet roads. That turned out to be a wise decision considering what happened to Alejandro Valverde, Nairo Quintana’s Movistar team-mate, who crashed heavily on a corner and is already out of the race.

And with Sunday's stage to Liège likely to finish in a bunch sprint we hear from Mark Cavendish, who was diagnosed with Epstein-Barr syndrome earlier this year but has recovered sufficiently to be on the start line.

• The Cycling Podcast is supported by Rapha and Science in Sport

10:06AM

Tour de France, stage two: preview

When is the next stage of the Tour de France?

Stage two of the Tour de France is on Sunday July 2, 2017.

When does stage two at the Tour start?

The second stage, the 203.5km run from Düsseldorf in Germany across the border into Belgian city Liège, starts at 12.03pm (11.03am BST).

And when does the race finish?

The second grand tour of the season concludes three weeks later with the 103km stage from Montgeron to Paris  on Sunday July 23.

What TV channel can I watch the race on?

Eurosport, ITV and S4C will be broadcasting every stage live each day – click here for full stage-by-stage details of broadcast times – whileTelegraph Sport will provide live blogs to keep you up to speed with the latest news. Bookmark this page for all of Sunday's action.

And what time is Sunday's live coverage?

Stage two: Düsseldorf – Liège, 203.5km
Telegraph Sport liveblog: From 10.30am
TV details: Eurosport 1 11am-4.45pm, ITV4 11am-4.45pm, S4C 2-4.35pm

What does the stage profile look like?

Who should you watch out for on the road to Paris?

Who are the bookmakers' favourites for the race?

Chris Froome is the favourite to win the 2017 Tour de France for the fourth time in his career this year. Former Team Sky rider Richie Porte is second best in the betting to win the general classification, while Nairo Quintana is third.

"Chris Froome is one of the most successful cyclists in Tour de France history and we make him the favourite to win the Yellow Jersey for a fourth time this year where he patriotic support has already gathered for the Team Sky rider," said bookmaker Coral's John Hill.

"Many patriotic punters are backing Froome to succeed in France and Andy Murray to defend his Wimbledon crown in what has proved to be a very popular double."

1. Chris Froome: 13/8

2. Richie Porte: 11/5

3. Nairo Quintana: 7/1

4. Alberto Contador: 16/1

5. Jakob Fuglsang: 20/1

6. Alejandro Valverde: 25/1

7. Romain Bardet: 25/1

8. Fabio Aru: 33/1

9. Esteban Chaves: 80/1

10. Dan Martin: 110/1

​Who do you think will win the Tour de France?