July 07, 2008	Monday	Rajab 3, 1429

SAINT BRIEUC (France), July 6: Norwegian Thor Hushovt of Credit Agricole won the second stage of the Tour de France on Sunday, a 164.5km stage from Auray to here.

Spaniard Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) retained the overall lead ahead of Monday’s third stage, a 208km race from Saint Malo to Nantes.

On the second of three days in Brittany the French riders in the peloton were at the front for most of the day although in the end their biggest achievement was to show the sponsors’ jersey.

Shortly after the start, Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel of Cofidis was joined by compatriot Thomas Voeckler of Bouygues Telecom, and together they built a phantom lead on the peloton.

Voecker, the provisional ‘King of the Mountains’, was out to defend the polka dot jersey, although the presence of Chavanel was a far bigger mystery – especially as their lead on the bunch did not reach a promising conclusion.

After 43km of racing the peloton passed the summit of the Cote de Kergroix with a four-minute deficit to the leaders. Another 50km further on, the lead was down to three minutes.

It was on the summit of the Mur de Bretagne climb, where race leader Alejandro Valverde avoided potential disaster when an enthusiastic spectator got in his way, that another two Frenchman attacked the peloton.

Christophe Moreau and his Agritubel team-mate David Lelay raced off and did well to catch their two compatriots at the 107km mark.

At that point the peloton trailed by 2:48, but thanks to the pursuit work of Francaise des Jeux, Caisse d’Epargne and eventually Quick Step, the deficit had virtually evaporated to a minute with 25km to go.

Spaniard Alejandro Valverde, riding for Caisse d’Epargne, won the Tour de France’s first stage, held over 197.5km of undulating terrain, on Saturday.

Valverde came through in a sprint finish, seeing off Belgian Philippe Gilbert, Frenchman Jerome Pineau and Kim Kirchen of Luxembourg.

For the first time since 1967 the world’s biggest race did not kick off with a time trial prologue, with organisers determined to shake up the first week and get the yellow jersey race going as quickly as possible.

With the first stage passing through the home town of France’s last winner, Bernard Hinault, in 1985, it took only two kilometres for one of French riders to attack.

Lilian Jegou’s break was soon followed by seven other riders, and they were given almost immediate permission to pull away from the peloton.

By the time the main peloton hit the summit of the first of four small climbs, at the 29.5km mark, they had a 8min 15sec deficit to the eight leaders.

But with the prestigious yellow jersey up for grabs at the end of the race’s final climb, they were never going to be allowed a free run to the finish.

The Caisse d’Epargne team of yellow jersey co-favourite Valverde was among those who began pulling to the front of the peloton in a bid to up the tempo and start the chase.

Their efforts soon began to pay, and by the time they had passed through the feed zone at the halfway stage the lead was down to four minutes.

It was at the feed zone that the first of several crashes occurred.

Race debutant Herve Duclos-Lassalle of the Cofidis team crashed when a feed bag from another rider tangled in his wheel.

Sniffing their fate, it was soon to be every man for himself at the front as the peloton brough the deficit down to only 3:15 with 55km to race.

Another 20km further on and with the peloton at just over 1:30 behind them Frenchman Stephane Auge was first to attack off the front.

He soon ran out of juice, and then Jegou and Spaniard David de la Fuente managed to build a slight advantage. With 17km to ride, their lead on the peloton fell, fatally, to just below a minute.

Results:

Second stage:

1. Thor Hushovd (NOR/C.A) 164.5 km in 3hr 45min 13sec; 2. Kim Kirchen (LUX/COL) at 0:00; 3. Gerald Ciolek (GER/COL) 0:00; 4. Robert Hunter (RSA/BAR) 0:00; 5. Erik Zabel (GER/MRM) 0:00; 6. Yury Trofimov (RUS/BTL) 0:00; 7. Oscar Freire (ESP/RAB) 0:00; 8. Jimmy Casper (FRA/AGR) 0:00; 9. Martin Elmiger (SUI/A2R) 0:00; 10. Leonardo Duque (COL/COF) 0:00; 11. Vladimir Efimkin (RUS/A2R) 0:00; 12. Alejandro Valverde (ESP/GCE) 0:00; 13. Juan Jose Cobo (ESP/SDV) 0:00; 14. Martijn Maaskant (NED/GAR) 0:00; 15. Mikel Astarloza (ESP/EUS) 0:00; 16. Samuel Sanchez (ESP/EUS) 0:00; 17. Robbie McEwen (AUS/SIL) 0:00; 18. Tadej Valjavec (SLO/A2R) 0:00; 19. Andy Schleck (LUX/CSC) 0:00; 20. Dmitriy Fofonov (KAZ/C.A) 0:00.

First stage:

1. Alejandro Valverde, Spain, Spain, Caisse d’Epargne, 4 hours, 36 minutes, 7 seconds; 2. Philippe Gilbert, Belgium, Francaise des Jeux, 1 second behind; 3. Jerome Pineau, France, Bouygues Telecom, same time; 4. Kim Kirchen, Luxembourg, Team Columbia, same time; 5. Riccardo Ricco, Italy, Saunier Duval-Scott, same time; 6. Cadel Evans, Australia, Silence-Lotto, same time; 7. Frank Schleck, Luxembourg, Team CSC Saxo Bank, same time; 8. Filippo Pozzato, Italy, Liquigas, same time; 9. Oscar Freiere, Spain, Rabobank, same time; 10. Oscar Pereiro, Spain, Caisse d’Epargne, same time; 11. David Millar, England, Garmin Chipotle, same time; 12. Juan Jose Cobo, Spain, Saunier Duval-Scott, same time; 13. Matteo Carrara, Italy, Quick Step, same time; 14. Carlos Sastre, Spain, Team CSC Saxo Bank, :07; 15. Thor Hushovd, Norway, Credit Agricole, same time; 16. Fabian Cancellara, Switzerland, Team CSC Saxo Bank, same time; 17. Andy Schleck, Luxembourg, Team CSC Saxo Bank, same time; 18. Christian Vandevelde, United States, Garmin Chipotle, same time;19. Samuel Sanchez, Spain, Euskaltel-Euskadi, same time; 20. Stefan Schumacher, Germany, Gerolsteiner, same time.—Agencies