Sylvain Chavanel won a rain-soaked second stage of the Tour de France in which most of the favourites crashed.
The French rider, 31, attacked after 11 kilometres in the 201km ride, was joined by seven other riders and finally broke on his own to snatch his second Tour stage victory.
The three-times French time-trial champion, who won his other stage in 2008 in Montlucon, claimed the leader’s yellow jersey from Fabian Cancellara. Chavanel leads the Swiss by 2min 57sec with Tony Martin ten seconds back in third.
Chavanel’s victory, made easier by a massive pile-up in one of the day’s seven climbs, came only two months after he was injured on the same roads in the Liege-Bastogne-Liege classic, making him initially doubtful for the Tour.