Bakelants takes Stage 2 and Tour lead

Ajaccio, Corsica (Sports Network) – Belgian Jan Bakelants won Stage 2 of the 2013 Tour de France to take the yellow jersey from Marcel Kittel.

Bakelants crossed the finish line one second ahead of a large group led by Peter Sagan and Michal Kwiatkowski. Davide Cimolai and Edvald Boasson Hagen took fourth and fifth, respectively.

Bakelants completed the 156-kilometer ride from Bastia to Ajaccio in a time of 3 hours, 43 minutes and 11 seconds.

“I saw that, in the last 500 metres that I still had a gap and I said, ‘Come one, hold this. It’s going to be the nicest day of your life!’ And then I did it,” Bakelants said.

Kittel stayed out of trouble to win Saturday’s chaotic first stage, which saw riders crashing and a bus parked on the finish line until moments from the end.

On Sunday, Kittel was well off the pace during a stage that featured a series of tricky climbs, and came in more than 17 minutes behind Bakelants.

Categorized in: General Sports