Tour de France 2015: Stage 2 Results, Latest Standings and Highlights

Andre Greipel beat Peter Sagan and Fabian Cancellara in a sprint during Sunday's Stage 2 of the 2015 Tour de France, one of the craziest opening-road stages in the long history of the race. Cancellara is the new leader in the general classification and will like his chances of adding to his lead during Monday's ride for Huy.

Sunday's stage was supposed to be an easy, quick hop ending in a bunch sprint, but dreadful weather and tons of crashes turned the first open-road stage of the Tour into a chaotic mess. Last year's winner, Vincenzo Nibali, and Nairo Quintana both lost nearly 90 seconds on the other contenders for the general classification in a wild and wacky race.

Here's a look at the results from Stage 2:

Rider	Time
1 Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal	3:29:03
2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo	Same Time
3 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Trek Factory Racing	Same Time
4 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Etixx - Quick-Step	Same Time
5 Daniel Oss (Ita) BMC Racing Team	Same Time
6 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team	Same Time
7 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky	Same Time
8 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin	Same Time
9 Tony Martin (Ger) Etixx - Quick-Step	Same Time
10 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Giant-Alpecin	Same Time

The voyage to Paris officially started on Sunday, as the peloton enjoyed the Grand Depart in Utrecht. The fine weather resulted in thousands of fans lining the roads at the starting line, and via Le Tour Utrecht, the peloton enjoyed a rousing start:

Given the flat profile of Sunday's stage, all signs pointed to an easy day for the peloton and a bunch sprint in Neeltje Jans. Four riders were given three minutes in an early break, but as reports of inclement weather at the finish line reached the peloton, Team Sky suddenly increased the tempo.

The riders were headed for Neeltje Jans, an artificial island near the Dutch coast, and according to the Tour's official Twitter account, the wind picked up tremendously during the afternoon:

No one was interested in a tactical battle in such conditions, and it made sense for the peloton to increase the tempo. But Team Sky's tempo was ridiculous and actually broke up the peloton before the halfway point of the race, per Le Tour de France.

Big names like Alejandro Valverde, Bauke Mollema, Rui Costa and Joaquim Rodriguez all fell behind and had to work hard to bridge the gap, a stunning development so early in the race.

Meanwhile, conditions at the finish line got even worse, with the Inner Ring reporting the banner signaling the final kilometer of the race had to be taken down. Former pro cyclist David Millar was starting to grow concerned:

Jan Barta placed an attack just before the intermediate sprint, grabbing the first points of the Tour. In the peloton, John Degenkolb beat Alexander Kristoff, a first sign the battle for the green jersey will be tense.

As the weather worsened, the first crashes of the 2015 Tour de France occurred as well. Local favourite Wilco Kelderman was involved in one of them, and pro cyclist Sam Bewley thought it was only just the start:

Quintana got stuck behind a group of riders that hit the asphalt and lost 40 seconds on his main competitors for the yellow jersey, a nightmare scenario for the Colombian. Minutes later, 2014 winner Nibali crashed, and suddenly, Chris Froome and Alberto Contador had a unique opportunity to grab an advantage, via BBC Radio 5 Live's Simon Clancy:

The peloton increased the tempo even further, putting tremendous pressure on the chasing groups, whose smaller numbers meant they struggled more with the wind. Incredibly, things got even worse for the defending champion, as Nibali suffered a puncture with less than 30 kilometers left to ride.

Sagan, the green jersey winner the past three years, appeared to be in prime position to start his 2015 Tour with a bang, but as if this stage hadn't seen enough drama already, he too suffered a puncture in the middle of the finale. The Slovak immediately battled his way back to the lead group, but he wasted valuable energy doing so.

Behind the leading group, Quintana and Nibali seemed to give up, losing well over a minute on Froome and Contador. It's the worst start to this year's Tour the two could have had, but with the Mur de Huy on the schedule on Monday, it made no sense wasting any more energy.

In the sprint, Mark Cavendish launched himself too early, and he was overtaken by a bunch of riders near the finish line. Greipel just about managed to hold off Sagan, while Cancellara did enough to grab third place and the yellow jersey. Here's how the general classification looks:

Pos	Rider	Time
1	Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Trek Factory Racing	3:44:01
2	Tony Martin (Ger) Etixx - Quick-Step	0:00:03
3	Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin	0:00:06
4	Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo	0:00:33
5	Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky	0:00:35
6	Daniel Oss (Ita) BMC Racing Team	0:00:42
6	Rigoberto Uran (Col) Etixx - Quick-Step	Same Time
8	Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team	0:00:44
9	Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team	0:00:48
9	Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky	Same Time

Here's a look at the points standings:

Pos	Rider	Points
1	Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal	55
2	Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo	39
3	Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Trek Factory Racing	35
4	Mark Cavendish (GBr) Etixx - Quick-Step	26
5	Tony Martin (Ger) Etixx - Quick-Step	25
6	Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin	23
7	Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing	20
8	Jan Barta (Cze) Bora-Argon	20
9	Stef Clement (Ned) I AM CYCLING	17
10	Daniel Oss (Ita) BMC Racing	16

As reported by Sky Sports, Greipel credited his team-mates with the win:

"

I felt really strong and I'm really happy to have won. We were trying to push really hard at the front of the peloton in order to drop some of my rivals and it worked pretty well. It was really nervous with all the rain and the wind but the team kept me up at the front.

"

Quintana and Nibali are undoubtedly the big losers of Sunday's stage, and with the Mur de Huy on the schedule for Monday and cobblestones lining the roads on Tuesday, things aren't about to get any easier.

The duo already sits a minute behind Froome and Contador, who are both experts at defending a lead in the mountains. Expect Nibali and Quintana to be ultra-aggressive in the high mountains, pushing the entertainment value of this year's Tour through the roof.

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