That was some stage today, experts saying the sprinters would be involved?! really, that last couple of Km was brutal!

I think the flatter stages will be more like this now that there isn't a specialised sprint team like HTC were. The overall speed of the peloton isn't anywhere near fast enough to weed out the smaller, weaker teams.
Interesting to see Cav battling for intermediate sprint points bearing in mind the overall expectation is that he'll ditch at the last rest day to focus on the olympics.

Broke a small bone in his hand, but he's carrying on for now. Today's pave section won't help him though.

well he might have lost some weight, and may be saving a bit for the olympics, and may not have the lead out team this year, but cav still knows how to win flat sprint stages

tuesdays stage may see some teams trying to engineer breaks over several hills and a likely head wind. team sky will have to look after wiggins well on this stage

He was bloody brilliant in an utterly chaotic sprint. His awareness of where to be, alongside or in behind which other riders, all at 60km/h and more, is incredible. The way he usurped Matt Goss and Peter Sagan as their team's tried to position them was fantastic and he's still got plenty of punch.

Tricky stage today and it could be anyone's. It's got the look of a Boasson Hagen/Gilbert/Cancellara type to win it. It'll be tough for teams to try and control, so it may be a case of limiting losses to main rivals.

I reckon this is great practice for the olympics. Chances are that GB may utilize virtually all the team to get Cav over box hill, leaving him with maybe one rider to help him gain the right wheels and bring back any attacks on the drag back into London. He'll then have to use his tactical ability to find the right wheel and poach a gold medal.

In the early days Cav never had a train and was able to jump wheels so effectively it's how he made his name and got him a contract. The rest is history!

He wasn't the only one from the looks of things. It seemed quite a few riders had hand / wrist injuries. Luckily today only skirts the cobbles and uses the hills instead or they're could be some battered riders today

He was sooooo far back with 2-3 k to go and even at flamme rouge you could see that he was well back. Despite eurosport keeping telling us he was further up ( but that was EBH behind Bernie).

Goss yeah , Sagan no! Cav isn't worried about Sagan he hasn't got anywhere enough sprint capability in a full on proper sprint on the flat compared to Cav and Greipel ( Who I suspect Cav see's as his biggest threat)

Luis Léon and Anthony Roux were struggling as well, all a result of the crash on stage 1.

And re Eurosport's Cav/EBH confusion - easily done from long-range overhead shots. The Norwegian champions jersey is not easily distinguished from the rainbow stripes.