Watching Mark Cavendish totally dominate the other sprinters at Sunday’s stage 2 of the 96th Tour de France set me thinking about the first time I saw him race. It was in early 2005 at the world track championships in Los Angeles, when he was only 19.
U.S.-based photographer Casey B. Gibson has an eye for more than just bike race action. He specializes in capturing the roadside characters and scenes that make the Tour de France special. He will be covering every day of the 2009 Tour de France. Today we present a gallery of his best stage 2 shots. Click here to see his stage 1 gallery.
As has become almost customary for those riders fortunate enough to earn the Tour de France’s yellow jersey, Fabian Cancellara also earned a yellow bicycle from his sponsors. Specialized surprised him with the new Tarmac SL3 about two hours before Sunday's stage. In addition to the yellow frameset, freshly assembled with a custom, yellow-highlighted SRAM Red gruppo and yellow-decaled Zipp 404 Zed Tech wheels, Cancellara sported a yellow Bell helmet to complete the ensemble.
Temperatures surged into the high 90s on Sunday as searing summer heat took a grip on the peloton at the Tour de France. Riders sprinted for the line into Brignole with extra intensity Sunday because it seemed like they just wanted a cold drink and some shade. “It was brutal heat out there. I couldn’t get enough drinks down,” said Cervélo’s Heinrich Haussler. “I was getting goose bumps with so much heat. I was almost feeling cold.”
Astana’s Lance Armstrong stayed out of trouble on Sunday’s sweltering Stage 2, finishing in 80th place in the same time as stage winner Mark Cavendish. "Days like today are incredibly hot and hard for everyone," said Armstrong. "I just wanted to avoid trouble and get into the rhythm of the race, because yesterday's time trial wasn't really a normal stage. "We had an important day here and then we are on our way to the Pyrenees."
Among all the fantastic time trial bikes on hand in Monaco before stage 1, the team workspace with the broadest range of individuality in terms of TT bike setup was the Garmin-Slipstream pit.
Britain's Mark Cavendish is likely to find out the real strength in depth of his rivals on the Tour de France in the race's third stage from Marseille to La Grande Motte on Monday. The key to Cavendish's four stage wins from the bunch sprints last year, apart from his unstoppable top end speed, was the disciplined riding of his Columbia team who helped crank up the speed before unleasing him a few hundred meters from the line. On Monday Cavendish will find out if sprint rivals Thor Hushovd, Tom Boonen and Tyler Farrar, among others, have learned anything from those performances
Mark Cavendish (Columbia-HTC) sped to victory on Sunday in stage 2 of the 2009 Tour de France, a 187km race from the principality of Monaco to Brignoles. Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream) took second behind the Manxman with Romain Feillu (Agritubel) third. Race leader Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) finished safely in the field to retain the maillot jaune.
Lance Armstrong is keeping his Astana team's yellow jersey rivals guessing by refusing to officially endorse Spanish ace Alberto Contador as their definitive team leader. "We're trying to keep it open a little bit," said Armstrong when asked if the results of Saturday's opening stage time trial had helped decide whether he or Contador was now the team's definitive leader. Contador, the 2007 champion, stamped his yellow jersey credentials on the race by finishing second in the opening stage time trial at 18secs behind Fabian Cancellara.
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