BMC will have their work cut out to defend Rohan Dennis’s yellow jersey to the finish line at Neeltje Jans, a small island of reclaimed land on the coast of Zeeland. We should see a sprint finish, but from a group of how many?

Sunday 5th July: Stage 2 – Utrecht to Zeeland, flat, 166km

Stage 2 profile: Tour de France 2015

The stage may be pan-flat, but the exposed, sea-level route on the coast means only one thing: wind. This stage will be raced at high speed and no quarter will be given when the crosswinds strike. It will be chaos as everyone tries to make the first echelon – they won’t all succeed and we could see some big time gaps for those caught on the wrong side of the splits. In the end, we should see a sprint finish – we’re just not sure how big the bunch will be for this. Remember also that bonifications come into play today, ten, six and four seconds for the first three riders over the line. Expect some bleeped soundtracks from the on-board camera footage.

I love a stage like this.

Link: Official race website

Header image: Challenging Crossing by Erik Schepers under Flickr commons creative licence:https://www.flickr.com/photos/schepers/15459184900