France's Sylvain Chavanel broke almost from the starting gun to win a rain-soaked second stage of the Tour de France in which most of the favourites crashed.
Chavanel, 31, attacked after 11 kilometres in the 201-kms ride, was joined by seven other riders and finally broke on his own to snatch his second Tour stage victory after a previous one in 2008 in Montlucon.
The three-times French time-trial champion also took the yellow jersey off Swiss Fabian Cancellara. Chavanel leads the Swiss by 2 minutes 57 seconds with German Tony Martin third a further ten seconds in arrears.
Ireland's sole representative on the Tour, team leader of AG2R La Mondiale team Nicolas Roche, is placed 34th after stage two. He is 3 minutes 36 seconds behind Chavanel in the overall standings.
Chavanel's victory, helped by a massive pile-up in one of the seven climbs of the day, was sweet revenge for the Frenchman as he was seriously injured on the same roads two months ago in the Liege-Bastogne-Liege classic and was long doubtful for the Tour.
‘It's a lot of emotion and it shows how the wheel can turn in cycling,’ Chavanel said.
This time, he was among the few riders not to hit the canvas.
Rain and nerves on a hilly, tricky course, caused havoc in the peloton and nearly ruined the Tour chances of last year's runner-up Andy Schleck of Luxembourg.
A series of crashes took place in the descent of the Stockeu climb, 30 kms from the finish line and the younger of the Schleck brothers was among the most seriously hurt.
The 25-year-old Saxo Bank team leader was seen holding his bleeding right arm and was able to start again on the bike of his Danish team-mate Matti Breschel.
His brother Frank was also caught in the crash.
But the other two leading favourites in this Tour, defending champion Alberto Contador and seven-times winner Lance Armstrong, who had a big bruise on the thigh, were not spared.
Held up by the pile-up, they found themselves chasing behind the first pack, comprising yellow jersey holder Cancellara.
Escorted by their team-mates, both managed to make their way back into the main peloton.
As for the Schleck brothers, they also finally managed to catch the main pack with 15 km to go, thanks to an intense effort by their team captain Jens Voigt, who led the chase.
At the end of the stage, the peloton crossed the line together at a slow pace in protest against the crashes.
If Tour contenders eventually limited the damage, the stage was a sound warning before Tuesday's 201-kms stage to Arenberg, which comprises seven cobbled sections and could cause more mayhem.
