NEELTJE JANS, Netherlands — German rider Andre Greipel won the rain-drenched second stage of the Tour de France in a sprint finish Sunday, while defending champion Vincenzo Nibali and Tour contender Nairo Quintana lost valuable time after dropping behind the front group.
As the riders approached the finish, British cyclist Mark Cavendish attacked first but Greipel timed his riposte perfectly to overtake him near the line for his seventh Tour stage win.
Cavendish was caught by Peter Sagan and Swiss veteran Fabian Cancellara, who took the race leader’s yellow jersey from overnight leader Rohan Dennis.
The 34-year-old Cancellara, who first wore the Tour yellow jersey in 2004, is riding in his last Tour.
“Now everything is a bonus,” said Cancellara, who finished third in Saturday’s opening stage amid punishingly hot conditions. “I had to find the energy to do the sprint; I had no energy left from yesterday.”
The course, which took the riders along the Dutch coastline toward the heart of the Zeeland Delta, proved treacherous as heavy winds and driving rain caused splits throughout the field.
While it was a bad day for Nibali, Quintana and Frenchman Thibaut Pinot — an outsider for the Tour win — things went well for Chris Froome, the 2013 Tour champion, and two-time winner Alberto Contador.
They managed to get in the front group along with Greipel, Cavendish and the other sprinters. Froome finished seventh and gained four seconds on Contador, who crossed the line in 13th.
Nibali, Quintana and Pinot all rolled in 1 minute, 28 seconds behind. That deficit could hurt them when the grueling race hits the mountain stages.
“This is a huge advantage for us to be sitting in this position after one flat day out on the road,” Froome said. “But this is a three-week race and things do change on a daily basis. We’re ahead today, but who knows what’s in store for us for the rest of the week?”
Sunday’s 166-kilometer (103-mile) trek started out from the Dutch city of Utrecht, where Dennis had won Saturday’s individual time trial with a record average time.
As visibility worsened, the wind became stronger and the rain lashed down, crashes were going to be inevitable.
“It turned out to be hectic, chaos, wind, rain,” Cancellara said. “It turned from beautiful weather to a situation we didn’t expect to be in.”
Wilco Kelderman, Geraint Thomas — Froome’s Team Sky teammate — and Thomas De Gendt all fell following an intermediate sprint as the stage passed through the Dutch city of Rotterdam. They managed to get back on their bikes to continue.
The Tour swings into nearby Belgium on Monday for Stage 3.
Tour glance
Stage 2: A windy and rainy 103-mile stage starting in Utrecht, Netherlands, and ending in the heart of the Zeeland Delta on the shore of the North Sea.
How local riders fared: Jack Bauer of the Netherlands placed 27th in 3:30:31, making him the top finisher for the Boulder-based Cannondale-Garmin team. BMC Racing’s Tejay van Garderen, a Rocky Mountain High School alumnus, finished 11th in Stage 2 with a time of 3:29:07 and is eighth overall.
Monday’s Stage 3: The race moves into nearby Belgium for a 99-mile route from Anvers to Huy. The stage will end at the top of the Mur de Huy, a climb with an average gradient of 9.6 percent.
