Tour De France 2016: TV Schedule, Route, Live-Stream Coverage for Stage 2

Stage 2 of the 2016 Tour de France will take the peloton from Saint-Lo to Cherbourg-Octeville, giving the Classics specialists the chance to steal a stage win from the sprinters on the final, categorised climb of Glacerie.

In many ways, the stage is similar to last year's ride up the Mur de Huy, a regular in the Classics season. The likes of Alejandro Valverde of Movistar and Tinkoff-Saxo's Peter Sagan will love their chances, and for the latter, it's a perfect opportunity to take control of the green jersey early.

The favourites may test their form during the final climb, but no major time gaps should be expected. Keep an eye on Tinkoff's Alberto Contador, however―his crash on Saturday may impact his ability to climb.

Date: Sunday, July 3

Time: Noon (BST), 7 a.m. (ET), 1 p.m. (Local)

Live Stream: ITV Hub (UK), NBC Sports App (U.S.)

TV Info: ITV 4 (UK), NBC Sports Gold (U.S.)

Preview

Mee met de Tour shared the profile for Sunday's stage, a hilly affair that should see several early attacks but will likely result in a mad dash up the final climb:

The Grand Tours are starting to implement more and more of these kind of stages in the opening week, breaking up the pattern of flat stages ending in an inevitable bunch sprint. Last year, Stage 3 toward Huy provided the fans with the first spectacular finale of the Tour, and this year shouldn't be any different.

The most surprising development of last year's stage was how the favourites for the yellow jersey openly attacked each other so early in the race.

Here's a look at how that stage finished, via the Tour's official YouTube account:

Contador's heavy crash during Stage 1 means the former Tour winner will be one to keep an eye on. The Spaniard got back on his bike rather quickly and appeared unaffected by his tumble, but per Cycling News' Barry Ryan, he later admitted he would need some time to recover ahead of the high mountains:

"

I’m bruised all down along my right side from my ankle up but at least I don’t have to go home. Hopefully I can get through the coming days and recover before the mountains. There are some positions where my shoulder gives me some doubts but I want to be optimistic and recover. I was well placed [at the time of the crash]. I came into the corner, there was a traffic island and my front wheel hit it and then I fell back on the curb.

"

The likes of Chris Froome from Team Sky and Movistar's Nairo Quintana will have read those comments, and they'll likely test their rival on the final climb. The other favourites, particularly the French riders, are also expected to attack, with the yellow jersey there for the taking.

The Glacerie is less steep than the Mur de Huy, however, and seems more suited for the Classics riders as opposed to the pure climbers. Valverde has built his career on climbs like these, and an in-form Sagan will be very difficult to stop as well.

Jerome Prevost/Associated Press

Sagan won the world championship by attacking on the final climb in Richmond last year, and he has impressed greatly in the Classics this year, winning both the Tour of Flanders and Gent-Wevelgem.

Cycling writer Neal Rogers wouldn't be surprised if the Slovak took the yellow jersey from Dimension Data's Mark Cavendish on Sunday:

The pure power sprinters will likely find the final climb a bit too steep to their liking, so expect Valverde, Sagan, Orica-GreenEDGE's Michael Matthews and the other specialists to steal the show.

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