Stage 2 - Stacks on Stockeu

It was a wet day in Belgium today, it didn't seem quite as wet as we had it back in the Giro D'Italia, but it didn't look nice. I'm sure given the choice, the riders would rather have stayed in bed and maybe gone out tomorrow if the weather was a bit nicer. It's a tough old job being a pro bike rider, and though the snooze button is tempting, nearly everyone made it to the start this morning.

The only absentee was Adam Hansen, who came down in a crash yesterday but still managed to finish the stage. He  may have got a lie-in, but as he's got a broken collar bone and shoulder, he probably didn't sleep so well.

If we thought we'd seen some crashes yesterday, then we were in for a treat today. The bunch was 'nervous' again, and wet, narrow roads and fast descents claimed a collection of victims too long to list. The biggest name down was Andy Schleck, who was standing at the side of the road in the classic broken collarbone pose.

He pulled himself together though, and was soon on his way again thanks to a loaned bike, but by this time the race had split all over the place. Team-mate Fabian Cancellara seemed to avoid the trouble, but arranged for the peloton to soft pedal for the rest of the stage and come the finish there was no sprint for the line -  in fact the finish looked a lot like the start.

All the trouble didn't really bother Sylvan Chavanel, as he was up the road for most of the day. Those crashes meant the usual chase and catch never happened, and he made it to the finish 3:56 ahead of the bunch.

So Chavenel takes over the race lead from Cancellara...... looks like Fabian will have to put that custom yellow bike back into the team truck.

In the world of Velogames, we're still a bit short on scoring updates. I was impressed when the first update appeared so quickly and hoped George had mended his tardy ways, but it doesn't seem to be the case. I have noticed we've now had a few more teams appear in the minileague, most notably a new stage 1 high score from Down & Out and a zero from Charlton and the Wheelies.

The scoring implications of today's goings-on are is any one's guess - I don't think any sprint points were awarded for the end of the stage, which doesn't do my lad Thor any favours - he should still have more points than Cav though, who seems to have big fat zero so far.

If you thought there was trouble today, just wait till tomorrow. The race will be head into France, over some stretches of cobbles used in the Paris-Roubaix classic. It should be an opportunity for more chaos in the bunch, either in the form of more crashes, or more protests from the riders. We might also get to see who doesn't sign-on in the morning, as chances are some of today's victims will be too injured to continue.