Stage 2 went the way of the breakaway again, with debutant Kévin Vauquelin taking a historic first Tour de France stage win for Arkéa-B&B Hotels. That also marks two wins for France in as many days for the first time in over 50 years (the two first stages).
There was also action in the fight for yellow as Tadej Pogačar put in a trademark stinging attack on the Côte de San Luca climb, and defending Tour champion Jonas Vingegaard was the only rider able to follow, reassuring all who wondered as to the Dane’s form post-horror crash. The pair rode away from the GC group which had already been shredded on the steep gradients – Primož Roglič for one was caught in a split – as Remco Evenepoel and Richard Carapaz chased fiercely between them and the yellow jersey group.
In the end Carapaz, Evenepoel, Vingegaard and Pogačar all crossed the line on the same time, but with Romain Bardet in the main group 21 seconds down, Pogačar finds himself in the yellow jersey already (despite having dropped to the back of his group as they crossed the line).
- Stage 2 was not nearly as hard as what came before, but it was still a mighty tough first Sunday of the Tour de France, and one which drew out a strong 11-man breakaway.
- The gap earned by the break was reasonably healthy on the way to the first climb where it began to crumble quite quickly, but the repeated climbs, a stiff headwind and a couple of incidents in the peloton saw the gap bounce out again and it was advantage breakaway in the fight for stage honours.
- It was another day with multiple classified climbs, but the Côte de San Luca (1.9 km at 10.6%, up to about 20%) posed the biggest threat to the legs, the key feature of a closing circuit that the riders would take on twice in the last 37 km. While the breakaway riders began to test one another on the first ascent, things were kept under control in the peloton – but for a teasing acceleration from Pogačar who darted forward to grab a bidon.
- The decisive split came between the two ascents as Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) leapt away from their rivals, but it was Vauquelin who was strongest, ultimately going solo on the lower slopes of the final time up the Côte de San Luca with a little over 14 km remaining.
- Visma-Lease a Bike seemed keen to maintain control as the peloton arrived in the same spot four minutes later, immediately putting a number in trouble as the urgency lifted at the front. There was a momentary lull when Tiesj Benoot peeled off, leaving Vingegaard looking around for Matteo Jorgenson, but it was Adam Yates who set the pace that forced a split and then set up his own leader’s move – while Evenepoel was poised in the front split, Roglič was the biggest name to have gone AWOL at this stage.
- Pogačar left it quite late in the climb to accelerate, but when he went his attack really stung, and only one man could follow: defending champion Vingegaard.
- The Dane quickly latched onto his arch-rival’s coattails and the pair sped into the descent with infernal determination, leaving apparently everyone else in their wake.
- As Vauquelin reached out for victory and the two GC favourites charging away from their rivals, it became apparent that Evenepoel was engaged in a fierce chase a number of seconds behind, with Carapaz along for the ride. Then as Pogačar led Vingegaard and collected breakaway rider Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies) down the finishing straight, Vingegaard not willing to lead out Pogačar, the young Belgian brought the group to five and somewhat neutralised the danger.
- Carapaz surged through to the front of the small group to lead them home as Pogačar and Vingegaard hung back, and the Ecuadorian rounded out the top 10 behind all the remaining breakaway riders.
- Despite his apparent reticence, Pogačar’s amassed stage placings (fourth on stage 1) put him in the race lead, albeit on the very same time as Evenepoel – now in the white jersey – Vingegaard and Carapaz in that order, Bardet dropping to fifth at a 6-second deficit. The remainder the GC favourites lost 21 seconds to Pogačar et al.
Stage 2 Top 10
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Quotes of the day
It was really hard for me but I’m really happy. I had a perfect day out in the breakaway. I have to thank Christian [Rodríguez] for his role in the way he helped me get through to win the stage. He put me in the perfect position and I knew I was going to be able to attack … I wanted to take part in the Tour, that was the original dream. To now win a stage in it, well that’s amazing and for the team as well – it just makes me incredibly happy.”
Kévin Vauquelin said, celebrating the biggest win of his career so far.
I think I can be very happy with how everything went today – yesterday [too], of course, but especially today – that I was able to follow Tadej on the second climb of San Luca, because yeah, I think this is probably one of the stages we feared the most or actually expected we could lose time because of my preparation. That’s honestly speaking that I didn’t have a good preparation for this race. We only had one and a half months and I think I can be super happy.”
Jonas Vingegaard said at the finish of stage 2, now sitting third overall.
Brief analysis
- In only his second day of racing since suffering pretty nasty injuries in the Basque Country, Jonas Vingegaard is more than holding firm among the favourites at his second consecutive Tour defence attempt. The Dane said himself of Sunday’s stage: “I knew already before my crash that it was maybe a stage that suited him better than me and especially after the crash.” Of the supposed ‘Big Four’ – if you include Roglič and Evenepoel – it would be reasonable to describe Vingegaard as perhaps least punchy of the lot, and yet the 27-year-old was best placed and best equipped to respond when Pogačar did his thing on the steep gradients. It’s a very very good sign, but it remains to be seen how he does on the longer climbs, not to mention as the stages pile up towards the third week. But for now, the race is (still) on.
- The Ineos Grenadiers trident of Bernal, Pidcock and Rodríguez survived what looked like it was about to become a bad day on the final climb, their red jerseys – which usually stand out in a peloton dominated by many shades of blue – nowhere to be seen, but all three crossed the line with the main body of favourites 21 seconds after Pogačar’s group. Their teammate Laurens De Plus was next finisher another 50 seconds down, the Belgian mountain domestique overcoming a hard crash earlier in the stage, while Geraint Thomas had a bad day and was dropped early on the San Luca climb, eventually losing 4:24 to the top GC contenders.
- Roglič’s day could also have ended far worse, but he limited his losses with the support of Jai Hindley and Aleksandr Vlasov, the latter called back from the front split to help out his leader when UAE Team Emirates put the hammer down.
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