Tour de France 2017: Marcel Kittel Wins Stage 2, Geraint Thomas Retains Lead

Marcel Kittel booked an early victory in the 2017 Tour de France after winning Stage 2 of the competition on Sunday, although Geraint Thomas retained his place atop the general classification.

Kittel bulleted to first place following a scrappy sprint finish into Belgian territory from their German start to inject some life into his challenge on this year's Tour title.

Thomas won the individual time trials in Saturday's opening stage, but the wet conditions made Sunday's race that much more difficult to predict and featured a big crash among Team Sky's stars.

The Inner Ring broke down the top finishers from the second stage of the 2017 Tour de France:

And here's a look at the general classification following the conclusion of Sunday's ride:

Riders set off from Dusseldorf and in the direction of Monchengladbach following a circuit of the city and later toward the Belgian border, as well as their finishing point in Liege. 

Yoann Offredo, Thomas Boudat, Taylor Phinney and Laurent Pichon swiftly formed a four-man breakaway and put a distance of more than two minutes between them and the peloton, where they would remain for much of the race.

LeTourData tracked the quartet's run from the first break off, charting their progress as they put an almighty effort into retaining their places:

After overcoming the Category 4 Cote de Grafenberg near the race's beginning, riders enjoyed a relatively flat run past Monchengladbach and toward their Belgian entry.

The conditions on hand for the trip from Dusseldorf to Liege left something to be desired, however, and CyclingHub provided a glimpse at the kind of adversity riders had to fight against:

Along the route, Boudat reaped the benefits of his early initiative and won the first intermediate sprint, via the official Tour de France Twitter account:

Misfortune struck as the peloton was coming around a roundabout heading toward one of the stage's final climbs, however, when a crash involving between 15 and 20 riders put a halt on proceedings.

Team Sky were found to be at the front of the peloton when the crash occurred, per their official Twitter account, and Chris Froome was forced to change his bike twice after his first pick of temporary ride was too small:

The leading riders held an advantage of two-and-a-half minutes heading toward the Category 4 Cote d'Olne, one of the tallest peaks on the stage and marking a distance of around 12.5 kilometres to the finish.

Phinney beat a stubborn Pichon to the summit of the Cote d'Olne which, combined with a safe enough finish at the end of the stage, was enough to earn him the maillot a pois as mountains classification leader, which he will wear on Monday.

Boudat eventually lost his place among the pack with about 10 kilometres remaining, and both Phinney and Offredo finally fell victim to the same fate with only one kilometre remaining, losing the cushion in agonising fashion.

And after biding his time to a tee, Kittel timed his late dart for the damp Liege finish line to perfection, understandably showcasing huge emotion at the stage's conclusion, per Cycling Central:

The German's victory was his 10th Tour de France win overall, while Thomas' safe finish among the pack was sufficient to keep him in the yellow jersey in time for Stage 3 on Monday.

Team Sky will be glad to keep their position at the front of the pack, continuing to pick their battles in the hopes that the likes of Thomas and former champion Froome can keep them ahead.