Mathieu van der Poel storms to breathless Stage 2 victory ahead of Tadej Pogacar in explosive day at Tour de France

It was another memorable day in Mathieu van der Poel's illustrious career as the Dutchman (Alpecin-Deceuninck) powered to a pulsating victory on Stage 2 of the Tour de France on Sunday.

Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was right on Van der Poel's wheel in the final kilometre, but was edged out in a breathless finish ahead of fellow Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).

But the day belonged to Van der Poel, who came through for a triumphant victory, as well as claiming the maillot jaune for the second time in his career.

The longest stage of the race, one of only two of the 21 to top 200km, crossed from French Flanders to the northern French coast, and began under drizzly conditions.
The four man breakaway was allowed to form with little fuss. Of Yevgeniy Fedorov (XDS-Astana), Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Brent Van Moer (Lotto) and Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), only Van Moer was within a minute of the general classification lead. Comprising 2500m of climbing, most of which backloaded to the second century, it was a stage set up for a hard grandstand finish, and was expected to feature most of the big favourites.

The break nevertheless did what they could as they navigated the narrow lanes of the northern French countryside. A lid on their lead was placed at three minutes, but for most of the day it was nearer two. Alpecin-Deceuninck, the team of race leader Jasper Philipsen and stage favourite Van der Poel, took charge of the bunch with Silvan Dillier spending the most time in the engine room in the first few hours. Intermarche-Wanty, the team of white jersey Biniam Girmay, showed confidence in their own leader, offering the legs of Jonas Rutsch to provide some help keeping the break under control.

The early phases were characterised by innocuous crashes, the result of embedded nervousness in the bunch, as is typical of Le Tour. One involved Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) and Lennert van Eetvelt, with the Lotto rider’s team-mates assisting Wright in his return to the bunch.

One third of the stage to go, the gap was down to 90 seconds. Not the product of a concerted chase but of applied pressure and gradual accelerations in the battle for position. The four riders did just enough to make it through the intermediate sprint where, shortly after, they were reabsorbed into the peloton.

The category three climbs were where the UAE and Visma team-mates of Pogacar and Vingegaard began to make it a really hard race, Tim Wellens and Wout van Aert sacrificing themselves to thin out the bunch, even causing a split at 26km to go.

The final 10km saw a group of six big favourites with a clear gap, but hesitation allowed the group to swell, as dropped riders made it back. A flurry of attacks and counters followed, with Vingegaard putting in a big dig at 5km. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) broke clear on the run-in to town, before being chased down by UAE, whose riders were always present in numbers. 

Under the flamme rouge Van der Poel took to the front, looking to set himself up for the victory. He gradually increased the pass on the hard uphill before launching into an out-of-the-saddle sprint 100m from the line. Pogacar could hold the wheel, and pulled almost alongside, but never looked like coming past, while an impressive third place Vingegaard showed his fantastic form, and that he is not just here for the high mountains. 

Fourth place went to Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ) while another Frenchman, Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling) showed himself to have recovered from illness and to be close to his best. The six-time stage winner was right at the front of a chaotic final bunch but was eventually edged out into fifth place after a strong ride.

Four years on from Van der Poel's last victory in the race, "it was about time I won another one." The climbs, he said, "were harder than I expected," but with two wins from two for Alpecin-Deceuninck, "it's a dream start for a team. Everything that comes now is a bonus."

Three mountains points from two climbs means Pogacar will wear the polka dot jersey on Stage 3, while Philipsen remains the leader in the points competition. The best young rider jersey transfers from the shoulders of Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty) to those of Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels).

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