Alejandro Valverde was mostly following wheels in today's first hilly stage of the Tour de France but in the final kilometre, the Movistar rider showed his strength. With a late attack by Chris Froome and Rui Costa, Valverde had to accelerate to bring back the defending champion whom he don't want to give any room at all.

With more than 3,000 meters of vertical drop and nine categorized climbs in the 201km trek from York to Sheffield, stage two of the 2014 Tour de France was destined to provoke a first shake-up between the GC favourites, and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) showed to be up for the fight. The Spanish rider from the telephone squad finished in the elite group after good teamwork on the roads leading up to the final climbs - especially from Visconti, Rojas and Intxausti - and the support by youngster Jesús Herrada in the final run towards the Jenkin Road, the last côte of the day.

No attacks within the main contenders in that last climb made any moves in the flat section leading to the finish crucial. Van Avermaet (BMC) and Fuglsang (AST) tried first, without permission from the group, before Vincenzo Nibali (AST) jumped away with no real response, reaching the finish with 2 seconds over Valverde's group (17th across the line, 11th now in the GC) and putting on the yellow jersey.

No real battle should be expected between the top guys in the following two days before cobblestones are tackled on Wednesday. The sprinters' teams will come to the fore on the route to The Mall, the very known London avenue next to Buckingham Palace 155km on tomorrow's programme.

"The stage was truly demanding - lots of climbs and descents, all day long, with narrow roads and tremendous speed," Valverde said. "All riders are still fat their ull strength, and that had an impact on the race's development.

"I felt well in the finale, but there was no organization in the group, and Nibali profited really well from it. I saw I wasn't in a position to contest the stage win, and when I jumped in the final straight, it was just to close the gap to Froome, who had gone away with Rui (Costa) and was opening a gap. Experience from the last few years shows it could be difficult to keep his level in other terrains, so we can't let him gain any seconds. This has just started, but my legs are feeling good and I'm happy with that."