TDF 2014 Stage 2: Nibali Steals Win in Sheffield

They said it was a tough stage today and they weren't wrong. After a quiet roll-out from York, things got progressively harder on the road to Sheffield. Come the last few kms, there was what us cycling folks call a "select group", which contained pretty much all the GC favourites.

On the final climb we were treated to some digs by Contador and Froome, but in the end, it was that Vincenzo Nibali who took the stage.  

With all the pre-race attention focused on Froome and Contador, the Italian Champ has been somewhat overlooked as a contender. He's not had many results so far this year, but he certainly timed it right to bag the stage win and take the race lead.

Score O' The Day goes to the Olliepops, who my sources tell me were looking for a good result today.

STAGE 2 |TOTAL|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|13|14|15|16|17|18|19|20|21|END

	TEAM	DIRECTEUR	RANK	SCORE
	Olliepops	OJ	1	464
	Mungo Cycling	Mungo	2	370
	Haxby Group Pharmacy	Richard Harrison	3	331
	KLOEFEKAPPERS FC	Jan Van Belleghem	4	299
	Three Little Pigs	Isabel Harrison	5	279
	Evil Yorkshire Chanbots	Evil Dr Chan	6	250
	The Doom of Froome	Warwick Anderson	7	222
	Huntington Pharmacy	Late night meds from	8	210
	Flying Hutchmen	Hutch	9	207
	2.35.24	Den	10	202
	Drews Riders, Useless Generally Speaking	Drew Stephenson	11	189
	Smugblokes	Mr Smug	12	189
	ENRICO 666	Eric Mortier	13	187
	Rouleurs	tdm911	14	183
	Holy Toledo	Andrew Ramos	15	174
	Stans Finest	Mark	16	168
	Bile Beans	Vestan Pance	17	146
	Charmers	Craigatron	18	96
	Expensive Bike Pumps due to Inflation	Vinny PL	19	87
	Miffy`sMountain Goats	Helen S	20	72
	The Hopalongs	Dave	21	70
	School of Hardknotts	Jonathan Wilcox	22	50
	Wilko	Oliver Wilkens	23	44
	A True Underdog Story	Patches O`Houlihan	24	6

Still leading the overall are the Doom of Froome, but Haxby Pharma are just one point behind.

OVERALL |1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|13|14|15|16|17|18|19|20|21|END

	TEAM	DIRECTEUR	RANK	SCORE
	The Doom of Froome	Warwick Anderson	1	672
	Haxby Group Pharmacy	Richard Harrison	2	671
	Olliepops	OJ	3	631
	Mungo Cycling	Mungo	4	628
	Three Little Pigs	Isabel Harrison	5	535
	2.35.24	Den	6	494
	Flying Hutchmen	Hutch	7	492
	KLOEFEKAPPERS FC	Jan Van Belleghem	8	469
	Charmers	Craigatron	9	454
	Stans Finest	Mark	10	448
	Evil Yorkshire Chanbots	Evil Dr Chan	11	439
	Rouleurs	tdm911	12	431
	Huntington Pharmacy	Late night meds from	13	412
	ENRICO 666	Eric Mortier	14	390
	Drews Riders, Useless Generally Speaking	Drew Stephenson	15	382
	Bile Beans	Vestan Pance	16	356
	Wilko	Oliver Wilkens	17	339
	Holy Toledo	Andrew Ramos	18	327
	Smugblokes	Mr Smug	19	299
	Expensive Bike Pumps due to Inflation	Vinny PL	20	286
	School of Hardknotts	Jonathan Wilcox	21	226
	Miffy`sMountain Goats	Helen S	22	223
	The Hopalongs	Dave	23	213
	A True Underdog Story	Patches O`Houlihan	24	44

Stage 3 sees the race leave Yorkshire for a finish in some place called London. Who knows, maybe it will be fun. Not as good as Yorkshire obviously, but there should be a good bunch gallop down the Mall. I'll eat my hat if Kittel doesn't win. Which means we'll most likely see Doom of Froome at the top of the table for a while to come.