07.05 - Tour de France: Stage 2

A young Eddy Merckx looks down on his contempories as stage two races away from Brussels...

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Eight men have escaped right away, led by Rein Taaramae...

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Matthew Lloyd is in this move, as is another Lotto rider, Jurgen Roelandts - they have over five minutes...

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Some Robbie McEwen fans await to see their hero along the roadside...

Domestic bliss for Astana - Alexandre Vinokourov passes a rain jacket to Paolo Tiralongo...

Domestic bliss for Radio Shack is provided by Yaroslav Popovych for Rast and Muravyev...

Cervelo starts to chase hard, with the time gap at more than five minutes...

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Stuart O'Grady imitates this for Saxo Bank - and goes a bit too hard..!

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Ryder Hesjedal tucks down low to regain the flying peloton...

Julian El Fares is undergoing some delicate steering adjustments at about 60-kilometres-per-hour..!

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Andy Schleck needs a wheel change...

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Sylvain Chavanel leads the escape onto the Col de Stockeu, but they're being caught...

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Saxo Bank leads a fast chase on the Stockeu, they're within 50-seconds of the escape now...

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Fabian Cancellara has the steely look of a man determined to wear his Yellow Jersey on the cobblestones tomorrow..!

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Chavanel has jumped away on the Stockeu, but his chances of staying away are slim...

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Roelandts has caught Chavanel after a treacherous descent into Stavelot - a series of crashes destroy's the peloton's pursuit...

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Maxime Monfort has been chasing the leaders for a while, but he'll not catch them...

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Following the crashes, a group of about 20 riders is hammering along, led by Jeremy Hunt - Cancellara is here, but Armstrong, Contador, Schleck and Vande Velde are not...

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Wiggins has also been delayed by the crashes - his Sky team are earning brownie points for chasing Cancellara and helping Armstrong and Contador at the same time...

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Armstrong is looking a bit battered after crashing on the descent - battered but defiant...

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Frank Schleck looks really battered - but he's trying to help his brother Andy get back on...

The worst-looking of all the crash victims is Christian Vande Velde...

Sky is still closing the gap to Cancellara's group, but the race-leader has just ordered everyone to wait for the crash victims...

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Sylvain Chavanel has won stage two into Spa by almost four minutes - but he's a both a strong and lucky man today..!

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The peloton crosses the line, led by an angry Cancellara - with tomorrow's cobbles to come, yesterday and today have been too dangerous, he says...

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Sylvain Chavanel becomes race-leader on the eve of the Tour's return to France - a dream come true for the Frenchman on a Belgian team..!

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