Domestique Debrief: Tour de France Stage 2

After a first sprint in Lille yesterday, the finale of this second stage was much less predictable and gave us many reasons to hope for some spectacle for the weeks to come. Here are four key conclusions from stage 2.

Most of the time, the first stages of a Grand Tour see some breakaway men fighting for the KOM points in order to wear this precious jersey. This year, despite the spectacular fight between Thomas and Vercher during the first stage, the two main favourites for GC seem to be fighting already for the precious red dots. 

Indeed, while Jonas Vingegaard scored one point yesterday by crossing the top of Mont Noir first, his main opponent Tadej Pogačar decided to answer by passing just in front of the Dane at both the Côte du Haut Pichot and the Côte Saint-Etienne-au-Mont today, putting him into the lead of the classification. 

If it was expected that both of these riders would take points at the summit of the biggest mountains, seeing them already fighting on third categories climb could discourage some attackers that were aiming for this jersey such as Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious) or Harold Tejada (XDS-Astana). It also shows the ambition of Vingegaard and Pogačar, aiming to win everything that they can on this Tour de France and leaving almost nothing to the others. 

Though Jonas may have missed out on polka dots, he’s shown the world he’s very much here to race this year. When the Dane attacked on stage 1 of the Critérium du Dauphiné to kick off the GC battle, it caught everyone’s attention. Here at the Tour, after just two stages, Vingegaard has proven that his uncharacteristic aggression was far from a one-off. After a day of pressing his team into action in the crosswinds yesterday, today’s stage saw Vingegaard instigate the action on the summit of the final climb of the day, the Côte d'Outreau, before keeping pace with the Classics specialists van der Poel and Pogačar to post a strong third place on the stage and ensure he loses the bare minimum to his rival on GC – just two seconds the difference between the pair, on bonus seconds.

It’s a new version of the formerly cautious Dane, who has in the past been criticised for not taking the initiative in the same way as his bolder rivals. Last year of course, he was riding with the spectre of his horrific crash at Itzulia hanging over him. This year it seems he has a new-found confidence, and the race is already all the better for it.

Following the abandon of Filippo Ganna yesterday, Ineos Grenadiers did not begin their Tour de France in the best way possible. Today was a great chance for the British team to recover from this loss by aiming for the stage win, in a finale that seemed perfect for Axel Laurance. Though the rider from Brittany managed to close the gap to the leaders after the Côte du Haut Pichot, he later had to wait for his leader Carlos Rodriguez. Indeed, the former Spanish champion was not in the first group after the hills and had to count on his teammates in order to reduce the gap to his main opponents for a top 10 finish. 

After a chase of around eight kilometres, Rodriguez crossed the line with Geraint Thomas 31 seconds behind Mathieu van der Poel, in a group where we can also find Tobias Johannessen and Ben O’Connor. This loss of time adds to the terrible opening weekend for Ineos, which saw them lose one of their main men, in addition to precious seconds in the general classification.

It was hoped for by a lot of cycling fans around the world – the return of Mathieu van der Poel at his best level at the Tour de France. Four years after his win at the top of Mur de Bretagne and his yellow adventure that lasted six days, the former world champion is finally back to success on the French summer roads, after two editions where he functioned only a lead-out man for Jasper Philipsen.

Could this yellow jersey, so dear to his grandfather Raymond Poulidor who never got to wear it, be the beginning of a new motivation for van der Poel at the Tour? The profile of the next days seems to suit him very well, with some punchy finishes in Rouen (stage 4), Vire (stage 6) and of course a return to Mur de Bretagne (stage 7). If keeping the yellow jersey will be difficult due to the ITT on Wednesday, this win might have whetted the appetite of Mathieu van der Poel, who could even, despite his previous declarations, begin to compete for the green jersey, alongside his teammate Philipsen.

After placing three riders in the top ten of the first stage, the French managed to improve this performance by having four of their representatives in the first ten of today’s stage, a good sign for the country’s cycling hopes. During the final hills, Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) was among the six strongest men in the peloton and his fourth place on the line confirms his great evolution in the past year. Behind him, Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) was also very active in the first group and will be wearing the white jersey tomorrow, while Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) and Aurélien Paret-Peintre (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) managed to come back later and sprinted to obtain a place among the best of the day. 

Even if it is unlikely that a French rider will finish in the top five of the Tour de France, they showed great strength in depth during this first weekend, especially among the young riders, which is very promising for the future.