Baden Cooke of Australia won the 204.5-km second stage of the Tour de France from La Ferte-sous-Jouarre to Sedan today.
France's Jean-Patrick Nazon was second and Jaan Kirsipuu of Estonia finished back in third place. Cooke's FDJeux.com team-mate and compatriot Bradley McGee had won the prologue on Saturday and he kept his overall leader's yellow jersey.
Cooke crossed the line after a gruelling 5:06:33 to claim what was his first ever Tour stage victory. The 24-year-old was part of the peloton that chased and caught up with French rider Frederic Finot, who had enjoyed the best part of a 200km breakaway only to see his dream of winning a stage for fade away as the bunch swallowed him up with 3km to race.
An overjoyed Cooke said "I had a bad start to the day then I changed my bike around and from there things started to get better. My team-mates did a great job today and especially Brad McGee in the final two kilometres."
Filed by Rob Wright
