Eneco Tour 2015: Stage 2

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January 1 - August 16, Breda, Netherlands/Belgium, Road - WorldTour

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 Welcome to live coverage of the Eneco Tour stage 2

Stage 1 Report

69km remaining from 180km

It was a pretty active start to the day and our leading duo went off pretty early. Jelle Wallays tried to join them but was brought back by the peloton. The main bunch are ticking along happily at the moment.

 Team Sky are manning the front of the bunch at the moment. They allow the gap to eek out to 3:44. 

57km remaining from 180km

Wheel change for Leigh Howard and he's back on his way. Orica still amassed just behind Sky in the bunch and Howard is having to chase on his own through the cars. He's one of their hopes for today but they've also got Adam Blythe in their ranks. 

Away from the race, Chris Froome confirmed his participation in the Vuelta a Espana later this month, much to the delight of the organisers. 

Chris Sutton is on the front for Sky at the moment and he's bringing the gap down at a quick rate. The two leaders have just 2:54 now. His teammates don't want to catch them too early and he gets the signal to step off the gas a touch. 

Lotto-Soudal seem happy to keep their noses out of the wind for now and they sit a little further back in the bunch. André Greipel missed out yesterday, perhaps going a bit too early, and will be keen to rectify that today. 

Johnny Hoogerland is on the back of the punch, collecting a few bidons for his teammates. 

40km remaining from 180km

The finish to today's stage is not too technical for the riders. There is a tight left-hander just outside 2km to go and then another more sweeping left-hander towards the finish line. 

29km remaining from 180km

Lotto-Soudal are now putting some men near the front to help Sky, Tinkoff-Saxo and LottoNL-Jumbo are also pitching in The pace has really reduced this bunch down. 

Enrique Sanz is going to have a tough time chasing back onto this bunch after he suffers a puncture. 

In other racing news, Giorgia Bronzini has won the second stage of the Route de France with Amy Pieters retainsing her race lead. 

The two leaders are about to entre the golden kilometre, which has three intermediate sprints in that one kilometre. 

Van Hoeck and Asselman don't seem keen to fight for the bonus seconds at these intermediate sprints. They're happy to carry on as normal as they try to stay out as long as possible. 

Behind them it is a different story as Philippe Gilbert strikes out for the first one, there is one second available after the escapees when through. He fights it out with Grivko, who must be feeling good today after extending his contract with Astana. Gilbert takes two of the three with Grivko taking the other. 

Those bonus second could be key later in the week when the real fight for the GC begins. 

16km remaining from 180km

Gruppo compatto as the two escapes are finally reeled in. 

A number of teams represented at the front of this bunch. Sky, Trek, Katusha, Astana, Orica and Lotto. IAM are also trying to make their presence felt. 

Giant-Alpecin also come to the front. They're likely working for Nikias Arndt today. 

Crash

It looks like it was Svein Tuft that went down in that incident. They came down on the right side of the bunch. 

It seems that it was Howard who was the Orica rider in that fall. He looks hurt but he's back on his bike. It's the second time that Howard has been forced to chase and he's going to have a tough time getting back for the sprint.

4km remaining from 180km

Etixx QuickStep take over with 2km to go. Lots of chopping and chaging going on

Another crash

There is a touch of wheels between Breschel and Van Hecke and the pair go down.

Gripel leads the sprint

Greipel wins

A replay of the Breschel crash shows that he lost control on his own, perhaps a problem with the bike.

Back in the sprint and it was Guarnieri who rolled home in second and Boonen in third. Greipel missed out yesterday but he looked superior today. 

Viviani finished outside the top 10 and we're likely to see a change in the standings. Just awaiting confirmation.

Here is how it finished on today's stage.

Confirmatoin that Jasper Asselman is the new race leader after taking the bonus seconds in the golden kilometre. The Roompot rider took nine bonus seconds in the three sprints. 

We're still awaiting the full top 10 int he GC. We've got one but it's all wrong so it's been sent back with a note *must try harder. We'll let you know as soon as the correct one comes through. 

Finally, we can bring you the right GC standings after that stage with Jasper Asseman leading the way. 

That is it from us today and you can find a full report, results and gallery here. Tune in tomorrow for more live coverage of the Eneco Tour. 

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