De Panne stage 2, Cozza & FriedmanThe big news of De Panne today was that Magnus Backstedt is back on form and riding strong. He - wisely - spent most of the day riding at the front of a nervous peloton and finished a solid tenth place in the massive field sprint. Martijn Maaskant was in good position for the final, but broke his wheel with 2 km to go.

Continuing the crashfest that defines De Panne, today’s epic six-hour stage included several tangles that unfortunately resulted in one Argyle Abandon. Our writer/rider on the spot, Steven Cozza, went down with 30 km to do and broke his collarbone. He is out but not completely down, and promises to try and write his one-handed summary of the day. [Cozza pictured above, far left, pre-chaos with Meatball smiling behind.]

Will Frischkorn also abandoned about 60 km in to the race with a deeply bruised patella (from stage 1) and plans to rest up for Flandres. Huub Duyn was involved in a couple of crashes but managed to finish the day.

Slipstream stage 2 results
1. Mark Cavendish 6:06′35″

10. Magnus Backstedt
29. Mike Friedman
34. Chris Sutton
40. Tyler Farrar
92. Huub Duyn
157. Martijn Maaskant
DNF Steven Cozza
DNF Will Frischkorn

Slipstream GC after stage 2
1. Enrico Gasparotto 11:04′35″

19. Magnus Backstedt +01′10″
31. Tyler Farrar +01′10″
58. Martijn Maaskant +01′10″
139. Michael Friedman +19′06″
140. Chris Sutton +19′06″
144. Huub Duyn +19′06″