Mathieu van der Poel takes the Tour de France yellow jersey with stage two victory

Mathieu van der Poel won stage two of the Tour de France with a stunning performance at the end of a breathless, aggressive stage.

The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider led out a small group on the uphill final into Calais, opening his sprint from the front, he was able to hold off GC favourite Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who finished second, while Jonas Vignegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) was third.

With yesterday’s stage winner, Jasper Philipsen in a chasing group, Van der Poel’s victory puts him in the race lead, and the yellow jersey with Pogačar and Vignegaard in close attendance.

While much of the stage was fairly routine, the final 30km were explosive, three late climbs allowing the riders attacking opportunities. The last two of those climbs came inside the closing 10km and made for a fantastically engaging final, with attacks from number of riders, and Vignegaard even having a go himself.

Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) had attacked shortly before and led by the slimmest of margins into the final kilometre, which was almost all uphill, but the German was caught soon after, Pogačar’s team desperately trying to control the race.

With Lipowitz caught, Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling) made what was ultimately a doomed attack with 600m remaining, but he looked over his shoulder only to see Van der Poel on his wheel. The Dutchman led all the way until he opened his sprint to take the victory on the longest stage of the race.

“It was super difficult, the final was harder than I thought,” Van der Poel explained afterwards. “I was really motivated, finally, it’s be four years since I’ve won my first stage on the Tour de France and it was about time I won a second one.

“Of course people put me as a favourite but I think we see which riders were in front on the climbs, I think I did a really good job today to be there.”

HOW IT HAPPENED

The second stage of this year’s Tour was a complicated affair, the route taking the bunch north-west, from the start in Lauwin-Planque, just south of yesterday’s finish, to Boulogne-sur-Mer on the coast.

At 209.1km, it was the longest of the entire race, the complexity coming from four short, sharp classified climbs, with two of those inside the closing 10km. Both of those climbs were stiff tests, each with ramps well over 10% gradient.

The day began late, traffic problems delaying the teams’ arrival to the start, and they eventually rolled out in pouring rain, wind threatening more echelon chaos later win the day.

The racing action began the moment the flag dropped, riders trying their luck, and soon a group of four got away. Yevgeniy Fedorov (XDS-Astana), Brent van Moer (Lotto), Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) and, for the second consecutive stage, French TT champion, Bruno Amirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) headed up the road, gaining a lead of 2:05 with just 10km ridden.

In the peloton, after the customary comfort break, Intermarché-Wanty headed to the front, before the Alpecin-Deceuninck team of overall leader, Jasper Philipsen came to the front, sharing the pacing duties, and holding the breakaway’s advantage at around 2:30.

As the kilometres ticked by and the rain stopped, the breakaway’s lead was allowed to exceed three minutes, but, when Fedeorov and Leknessund crashed the gap was down to the original 2:30 by the time they rejoined the front of the race.

As he did on stage one, Amirail was clearly interested in the mountains points at the first climb, attacking early on the ascent of the Côte de Cavron-Saint-Martin, with 104km remaining. However, once again the Frenchman was caught, Leknessund, clearly on a big day out, took the one available point.

Crashes were also a feature in the peloton, with former British champion, Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) one of those affected. The Londoner was seen at the doctor’s car, but continued the race will no apparent ill-effect.

Gradually, as the race approached the coast, the late classified hills and, more importantly the day’s intermediate sprint, the peloton upped the pace, eroding the leaders’ advantage, though they held on to take the serious points. Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) led the bunch, taking the meagre 11 points the break had left for the sprinters. The break was doomed by now, though and they were caught soon after, the race entering the final 50km with the peloton complete.

The final opened up with 30km to go, on the approach to the first of the trilogy of late climbs. The Côte du Haut Pichot saw the pace lift inexorably, Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) coming to the front on the narrow road, his leader, Jonas Vignegaard on the wheel. The UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad of Tadej Pogačar were close at hand, Belgian champion Tim Wellens taking the lead as the gradient began to bite, though well over 100 riders entering the closing 15km in the front peloton.

The approach to the Côte de Saint-Étiienne-au-Mont was frantic, riders and teams fighting for supremacy in a group which once again began to fracture, team after team attempting to gain control. Eventually Groupama-FDJ led onto the climb, Lewis Askey at the front, though the chaos eased as the Brit dropped back, Visma-Lease a Bike taking control.

A small group of race and stage favourites made it over the top, though others caught back on, but there was little respite, the Côte d’Outreau coming almost immediately afterwards. There, UAE team Emirates-XRG tried to take control of the race, setting Jhonatan Narváez to work, but the attacking continued, not least from Vignegaard, whose move with 5km to go was ultimately fruitless.

Shortly after the Dane was caught, Kévin Vaquelin (Arke2a-B&B Hotels attacked, and was soon joined by Vignegaaard’s team mate Matteo Jorgenson, then, then Israel-Premier Tech’s Alexey Lutsenko reached them there was a fleeting moment the trio would make it.

However, they were caught with 2.5km to go, allowing Lipowitz to make his own, ill fated move.

For stage three the race reminds in the north-east, the 178.3km race between Valenciennes and Dunkirk likely to be a day for the sprinters.

RESULTS

TOUR DE FRANCE, STAGE TWO, LAUWIN-PLANQUE > BOULOGNE-SUR-MER (209.1KM)

1. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Deceuninck, in 4:45:41
2. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirate-XRG
3. Jonas Vignegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike
4. Romain Grégoire, (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
5. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Tudor Pro Cycling
6. Oscar Onley (Gbr) Picnic-PostNL
7. Aurélien Paret-Peintre (Fra) Deathlon AG2R La Mondiale
8. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels
9. Simone Velasco (Ita) XDS Astana
10. Jenno Berckmoes (Bel) Lotto, all at same time

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE TWO

1.Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Deceuninck, in 8:38:42
2.Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirate-XRG, +4s
3. Jonas Vignegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +6s
4. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels, +10s
5. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike
6. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar, all at same time
7. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck, +31s
8. Joseph Blackmore (Gbr) Israel-Premier Tech, +41s
9. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
10. Ben O’Connor, (Aus) Jayco-Alula, all at same time