Greig Leach

Several teams where very attentive and took full advantage when the peloton went into strong crosswinds on the open Dutch roads near the North Sea. Tinkoff Saxo saw the weather as a great opportunity to gain time for Alberto Contador and to get rid of some of Peter Sagan's sprint competition. Etixx-Quickstep saw the same opportunity for their sprinter, Mark Cavendish, and if the cards fell right, they could move Tony Martin into the Maillot Jaune. Chris Froome (Team Sky) and Tejay van Garderen (BMC) were there for the ride and were willing to help the other teams push out their advantage over the chasing groups. It just goes to show that it isn't only the mountains that can cause big time gaps to appear on the general classification. And to think, today was only the second day of the Tour!