Andre Greipel came close to his first Tour de France victory
Andre Greipel of Team Lotto Belisol came close of tasting his first tour victory during the stage 2 of the race.
He rode brilliantly during the 207.5 kilometre event and was looking good for an overall victory during the race.
The German continued his splendid 2012 form and rode side by side with Mark Cavendish throughout the stage.
He finished at almost the same time with Mark and occupied the second podium position.
Cavendish finished the race in a total time of 4 hours, 56 minutes and 59 seconds and was declared as the race winner after a photo-finish.
"I knew (Oscar) Freire always goes up in the last kilometre so I stayed [with him] and it was just perfect - with the headwind I knew you could come from behind".
"I was alone in the last kilometre. I told Edvald [Boasson Hagen] with five kilometres to go just do your own thing. We haven’t worked enough together when it's so hectic like that”.
Cancellara called it "business as usual" and was happy there were no crashes. "We spent as little energy as possible. The final was pretty intense, pretty hard. I didn't have my best day, but I think that is normal".
Andre started his 2012 winning campaign with a first place finish at the Cancer Council Helpline Classic and the ProRace Berlin.
The cyclist also bagged three stages and the point’s classifications at the Tour of Belgium, three stages at the Santos Tour Down Under, two at the Tour de Luxembourg and the Tour of Oman each.
The 29-year-old also bagged stages at the Tour of Turkey and the Ster ZLM Toer to bag a perfect start to its 2012 season.
He started riding professional with Team TEAG Team Köstritzer in 2002 and stayed with the team by the end of 2004 season.
Andre also rode with Team Wiesenhof (2005), Team T-Mobile (2006-10) and penned a deal with Team Omega Pharma-Lotto in 2011.
He is continuing the second consecutive season with the team and has helped the side with numerous wins in the two seasons.
The German is looking good to challenge the point’s classifications at the race and is in good shape to win the green jersey after the final general classifications.
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