Nibali's Great Ride Into Sheffield!

Italy's Vincenzo Nibali was impressive in winning today's second stage of the Tour de France.  It seemed all of Yorkshire turned out to witness the world's most famous cycling event.  Despite a few problems with crowd interference, it was a perfect day for racing.  Jenkin Road proved to be a real test for riders as they neared the finish line.  The image below shows the moment when Nibali made his final push to stay in front for good (click on image for a larger view).

Nibali is in a teal color and is at the far left portion of the road at the right in the image.  This happened just 1.9 km (1.2 mi) from the finish line.  The image below is another crop I took from my video feed; it shows Nibali crossing the finish line (click on image for a larger view).

Below is Nibali's winning time and a comparison with our prediction.

• Stage 2:  5h 08' 36" (actual), 5h 03' 00" (prediction), 5' 36" fast (-1.81% error)

We are definitely happy to be under 2% error!  Below is Nibali's average speed.

• Stage 2:  10.856 m/s (39.08 kph or 24.28 mph)

It was a lot of fun watching today's stage.  I saw many familiar sites in the Peak District and in Sheffield.  Tomorrow's Stage 3 will see the last of England as riders commence the flat stage in Cambridge and finish in London.  Vincenzo Nibali will don the yellow jersey as the overall leader.  Below is our prediction.

• Stage 3:  3h 33' 10" (prediction)

The 155-km (96.3-mi) is much flatter than what cyclists faced in the first two stages.  We were  a bit fast with our first two prediction.  We'll see if cyclists pick it up tomorrow and come in under our prediction.