Tour de France Stage Report: Stage 2 was another hot day in Italy for the 2024 Tour de France. A Frenchman took the stage honours again, this it was Kevin Vauquelin of Arkéa-B&B Hotels. There was action behind the winner as Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) attacked on the final climb to San Luca and was followed by Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike). Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) managed to join them as the Slovenian went into the overall lead.
*** Full ‘Tour Stage Report’ very soon. ***
Last K of stage 2
Kévin Vauquelin won the second stage of the Tour de France. The Frenchman was part of a large leading group and rode away from his last fellow escapees on the San Luca. Tadej Pogačar, who attacked and eventually crossed the line together with Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and Richard Carapaz, took the yellow from Romain Bardet.
BIG win for Kévin Vauquelin
Christian Prudhomme, Tour de France general director: “The passage across the Emilia-Romagna region is straightforward enough to begin with as it takes the peloton to Imola and its famous motor racing circuit. The final part of the stage, featuring the climb to the Sanctuary of San Luca (1.9km at 10.6%), the traditional finale of the Giro dell’Emilia, which will be tackled twice in the final 40km, offers fertile terrain for the peloton’s puncheurs.”
Stage 2 profile
With Romain Bardet in the yellow jersey, the Tour started the 200 kilometre stage 2. Several escape attempts came immediately after the flag dropped. Mathieu van der Poel also tried, but the peloton didn’t let that happen. Soon after an 11 man group managed to stay away: Mike Teunissen (Intermarché-Wanty), Bram Welten (dsm-firmenich PostNL), Axel Laurance (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ), Hugo Houle (Israel-Premier Tech), Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies), Kévin Vauquelin & Cristian Rodriguez (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan) and KOM, Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) were all there.
A happy Romain Bardet at the start in Cesenatico
Patrick Lefevere and father and son Van der Poel (Adri and Mathieu)
Michael Matthews and Brent Van Moer tried to cross, but got stuck in between. They eventually dropped back to the bunch, this gave the break more of a chance. The highest placed overall in the break were Tejada and Abrahamsen, and they were 15 minutes behind Bardet. The break didn’t pose any danger. The lead increased to almost 9 minutes.
Remco Evenepoel’s wife, Rayane Oumaima was at the start in Cesenatico
The jerseys at the start: Frank van Den Broek, Jonas Abrahamsen and Romain Bardet Romain
On the first climb of the day, the Côte de Monticino, Welten was dropped. Abrahamsen was first over the top and so the Norwegian strengthened his lead in the KOM classification. Behind; the peloton lifted the speed. This caused the escapees to lose some of their lead and put Mark Cavendish and Fabio Jakobsen in trouble. They were able to return to the peloton, but were dropped again later. Jakobsen was in particular trouble.
The peloton leaves via the Porto canale Leonardesco Cesenatico for 199.2 kilometres to Bologna
In the leading group, Abrahamsen was the first over the Côte de Gallisterna and Côte de Botteghino di Zocca. He was also first in the intermediate sprint, where there was a crash in the peloton. Wout van Aert, Matteo Jorgenson and Laurens De Plus crashed at the back of the bunch. They were all able to continue, but all had abrasions. Due to the crash the peloton slowed down, which let the escapees extend its lead. The ten had more than 9 minutes again.
The first of many sunflower photos from this year’s Tour de France
At the start of the Côte de Montecalvo (2.8km at 7.6%), 50 kilometres from the finish, the lead of the ten had fallen back to 6 minutes and on the climb, the difference shrank further, as Victor Campenaerts accelerated at the front of the peloton. It was too fast for many riders, including World champion, Mathieu van der Poel. At the front, Abrahamsen took 2 more points for the mountains classification.
KOM, Jonas Abrahamsen made it into the break again
Campenaerts reduced the difference to the escapees to 4 minutes at the foot of the San Luca for the first time. Axel Laurance attacked from the break and only Rodriguez, Pacher, Tejada, Vauquelin and Abrahamsen were able to follow. The Norwegian once again took the KOM points. They slowed slightly and Jegat, Oliviera, Houle and Teunissen were able to return.
Oscar Onley, Nils Eekhoff and Lars Van Den Berg ahead of Romain Bardet
Teunissen then attacked on the flat, but Houle closed the gap, after which Oliviera jumped. Only Vauquelin and Abrahamsen were able to cross. They started the second climb of the San Luca with three men at the front. The escapees now knew that they would probably fight for victory, because nothing much was happening in the peloton. Vauquelin attacked at the bottom. Oliviera and Abrahamsen couldn’t follow.
The break had over 8 minutes on the peloton for most of the stage
Vauquelin was the first to cross the top of the San Luca and kept going. The Frenchman soloed impressively to victory in Bologna. Abrahamsen had dropped back into the chasing group, but he rode away again for second place. The Norwegian also took the green jersey.
The fans were out to see the Tour on another hot day in Italy
Was there going to be a battle between the favourites? Visma | Lease a Bike had taken the lead on San Luca for the first time, but this had not led to an acceleration of the pace, so a relatively large group came over the top. On the way to San Luca for the second time, when it was clear that the escapees would have the victory, Ben Healy, Alexey Lutsenko and Odd Christian Eiking tried to get away, but Warren Barguil jumped in to defend Romain Bardet’s yellow jersey.
Typical Tuscan buildings
The four started the San Luca with a lead. On the second ascent Visma | Lease a Bike had the initiative again and this time it was a lot faster. After a strong performance by Tiesj Benoot, there was no follow-up. Adam Yates then took over. The British rider kept the pace high, forcing yellow jersey wearer Romain Bardet to let go. Tadej Pogačar attacked towards the top. Jonas Vingegaard was alert and was immediately on his wheel. The other favourites could do nothing, but Vingegaard never looked to be in trouble.
The peloton rode on the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari – Imola
The two pushed on together and took a big lead on the chasers. Once down the other side, they had 45 seconds on the group behind with Romain Bardet and Primoz Roglič.. Remco Evenepoel and Richard Carapaz were chasing at about 15 seconds from Vingegaard and Pogačar. The Slovenian was putting a lot pressure on the Dane. The Visma | Lease a Bike rider had to make a big effort on the descent several times. Evenepoel and Carapaz joined in the final kilometre.
The peloton started to speed up when they hit the climb of San Luca
Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels) put in a big attack from the break
The yellow jersey went to Pogačar, even though he didn’t sprint. The Slovenian is on the same time as Evenepoel, Vingegaard and Carapaz, but he gets the jersey on the results count back.
KOM, Jonas Abrahamsen tried to follow
Vauquelin solo for the stage win
Stage winner, Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels): “This is crazy. I had two weeks of disappointment, in Switzerland and the French championships. I have to thank Cristian Rodriguez. He put in quite a few pulls to animate the breakaway, and then controlled everything for me. Very strong. A big thank you. I felt on the climb before, after increasing the tempo that I could even accelerate more myself, even if it was still too far away, so I decided to wait. Afterwards I followed the move of Oliveira and Abrahamsen, knowing that on the climb I was better than them and I was. I was able to get away and it was perfect. I was asking about the gaps all the time. I started to appreciate the victory very late. I knew they could ride very hard behind, so I was wary. Fortunately my riding quality was there and I was able to finish the job. It was very cool.”
Surprise winner – Kévin Vauquelin
Overall leader, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates): “A good day? Well, so-so. Today, when the break went, we knew they had a good chance of making it to the finish. In the final circuit I felt super good and the pace was super high already the first time up San Luca because of how the Visma team pulled. Then, the second time, we decided to try so I could test myself a bit. Jonas Vingegaard was really quickly on my wheel. I’m not surprised by his level. We cooperated well together, but Remco and Richard did it too and came back to our wheel at the very end. The whole circuit in Bologna was super crowded, and the climb was insane! Really unbelievable. It’s the cycling we should all love. Am I going to keep the yellow jersey for long? Well, I prefer to take it day by day and stick to the original plan…”
Tadej Pogačar takes the overall lead after stage 2 – Sound familiar
# Get all the Tour news and rider quotes in EUROTRASH Monday. #
Tour de France Stage 2 Result:
1. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels in 4:50:08
2. Jonas Abrahamsen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility at 0:36
3. Quentin Pacher (Fra) Groupama-FDJ at 0:49
4. Cristian Rodriguez (Pan) Arkéa-B&B Hotels
5. Harold Alfonso Tejada Canacue (Col) Astana Qazaqstan
6. Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar at 0:50
7. Axel Laurance (Fra) Alpecin-Deceuninck at 1:12
8. Mike Teunissen (Ned) Intermarché-Wanty at 1:33
9. Hugo Houle (Can) Israel-Premier Tech at 1:36
10. Richard Carapaz EF (Ecu) Education-EasyPost at 2:21
Tour de France Overall After Stage 2:
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates in 9:53:30
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma | Lease a Bike
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost
5. Romain Bardet (Fra) dsm-firmenich-PostNL at 0:06
6. Maxim Van Gils (Bel) Lotto Dstny at 0:021
7. Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) INEOS Grenadiers
8. Pello Bilbao Lopez de Armentia (Spa) Bahrain Victorious
9. Tom Pidcock (GB) INEOS Grenadiers
10. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Lidl-Trek.
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