Tour de France 2025 through the lens of James Startt - Stage 2
On each stage at the Tour de France, James Startt selects his image of the day, offering a unique perspective on the rolling citadel and the characters who inhabit it.
Stage 2 of the Tour de France brought the peloton through some punchy terrain en route ahead of the uphill finale in Boulogne-sur-Mer, and it also brought the race through one of the most striking squares in France.
Arras is the historic centre of the old Artois province, and the city is one of the most arresting in northern France, with its vast cathedral, its UNESCO-listed Belfry and the baroque Grand Place captured above.
When the Tour rolled through on this grey and damp afternoon, it put one in mind of Jacques Brel and his song Le Plat Pays, which celebrates the lowlands and the North Sea coast just over the other side of the Franco-Belgian border.
Brel sings of the cathedrals being “the only mountains” in this corner of the world, though that didn’t mean there wasn’t climbing on the agenda on stage 2. Yellow jersey Jasper Philipsen, pictured above, battled gamely, but the hills in the run-in proved a little too much for the sprinter. Instead, stage honours and the maillot jaune passed to his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Mathieu van der Poel.
James Startt is covering his 36th Tour de France. He is a two-time winner of the World Sports Photography awards and he currently serves as the creative director to inGamba luxury cycling tours.
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