Expect all true Tour sprinters to be hovering for the final 250m in The Mall.
Yesterday might have ended in something approaching a bunch, but the lumps and bumps of Yorkshire broke up the peloton long before the finish line in Sheffield.
This time, the only way is Essex and the majority of the 155k route traverses the flattest county in the UK: only Norfolk and Suffolk come close to resembling a topographical pancake.
Peter Sagan from Slovakia would be a natural contender for the first view of Admiralty Arch, but The Terminator found the final upward stretch into Sheffield a hill too far.
How much did it take out of his legs as well as Marcel Kittel, winner on Saturday when Mark Cavendish crashed out of the Tour?
Fellow German Andre Greipel would be the next best bet, and this is also the territory of Fabian Cancellara. ‘Spartacus’ had a go at the end of Stage One, and the Swiss will remember he donned yellow the last time the race finished here in 2007 - even if that was a prologue.
He’s going to have go some to where it this time. He needs to haul back 35 seconds Cancellara lags behind leader Vincenzo Nibali after the Italian made the decisive break on Sunday evening.
The stye starts at a quarter after midday, with the leaders expected in London just before 4pm.
