Tour De France 2012 Stage 2 Results: Winner, Leaderboard and Highlights

Mark Cavendish reminded everyone why he is the Manx Missile as he out-sprinted Andre Greipel to cross the Stage 2 finish line in first place.

Fabian Cancellara held onto the overall lead, and the top of the leaderboard remained unchanged after the peloton received the same time as Cavendish.

Stage 2 had the riders making a mostly flat, 129-mile ride from Vise to Tournai. This left for a tight pack the entire race, and it allowed Cavendish to show that he is still the world's elite sprinter. 

There was reason enough to speculate that Cavendish would not be as dominant in the sprints this year. He switched to team Sky and has title contender Bradley Wiggins on his team. Also, Cavendish had tweaked his training to help him prepare for the upcoming Olympics. 

Well, none of this appears to be slowing him down. It is just Stage 2 of this Tour, and Cavendish was already able to pick up his 21st career stage victory. 

Overall Standings

1. Fabian Cancellara, RadioShack-Nissan, 10:02:31
2. Bradley Wiggins, Sky, +00:07
3. Sylvain Chavenal, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, +00:07
4. Tejay Van Garderen, BMC Racing, +00:10
5. Edvald Boasson Hagen, Sky, +00:11
6. Denis Menchov, Katusha, +00:13
7. Philippe Gilbert, BMC Racing, +00:13
8. Cadel Evans, BMC Racing, +00:17
9. Vincenzo Nibali, Liquigas-Cannondale, +00:18
10. Ryder Hesjedal, Garmin-Barracuda, +00:18

Highlights

Check out the Manx Missile doing his thing. 

What's Next? 

The riders will be pedaling around France for the near future. On Tuesday's Stage 3 action they will embark on a 122-mile ride that takes them from Orchies to Boulogne-sur-Mer.

Most of the upcoming action will be relatively flat, but there are a lot of ups and downs in Stage 3. Six graded climbs are in this stage, which start off flat and end like a roller coaster.