Stage two was also the longest of this year’s Tour. The peloton rolled out from rainy Lauwin-Planque towards Boulogne-sur-Mer, covering around 210 kilometers. The key part of the stage came at the end, where several short but steep climbs followed in quick succession. 

The early breakaway consisted of four riders. Their effort was neutralised well before the finish by a nervous peloton. In the final part of the stage, the riders tackled the Côte du Haut Pichot, the Côte de Saint-Étienne-au-Mont and the Côte d’Outreau – three short climbs with a significant gradient. 

The first major split in the peloton came on the Côte du Haut Pichot. Vingegaard and his teammates were alert and made it into the front group. A regrouping followed shortly after, but on the subsequent climbs, the favorites once again came to the fore. Attacks flew on the Côte de Saint-Étienne-au-Mont and the Côte d’Outreau. Vingegaard tried to surprise the group on the descent, but his acceleration was quickly matched. Jorgenson responded a little later to an attack by Kévin Vauquelin, but they too were reeled in. 

A heavily reduced peloton then approached the uphill finish, where Van der Poel proved to be the fastest. He won the sprint ahead of Pogačar, with Vingegaard crossing the line in third. As a result, Van der Poel takes over the lead in the general classification. Vingegaard and teammate Jorgenson move up to third and fifth overall, respectively. 

“This result was better than I had expected,” Vingegaard said afterwards. “On a course like this, I wouldn’t have predicted I’d be sprinting for the win. I’m satisfied with how I felt today and how we performed as a team. It’s been a hectic start to the Tour. The almost flat stages yesterday and today created a lot of stress, but that’s just part of this race.” 

Head of Racing Grischa Niermann also praised the team’s performance. “Our goal was to make the race hard in order to wear down the competition. It was impressive to see Jonas sprinting to third place in that group. Unfortunately, Wout van Aert didn’t feel strong enough to compete for the win today, but he did some important preparatory work for Jonas and Matteo. Just like yesterday, I saw a strong team performance from the guys.”