Tour de France (2nd stage): Kevin Vauquelin secures a 2nd French victory, Pogacar already takes the yellow jersey

The Tour de France is not in the Bolognese sauce, but in the French sauce, with a second stage in two days. This see for Kévin Vauquelin. No luck, Romain Bardet loses the yellow jersey by around twenty meters…

Our report and analysis and photos of the 2nd stage.

The main actor at the start of this stage is called Jonas Abrahamsen. The Norwegian rider from the Uno-X Mobility team was keen to showcase his weighted jersey, acquired the day before, by trying to take the right breakaway.
Abrahamsen’s efforts and restarts will eventually pay off with a group of 11 runners who manage to form. At the front we find four tricolors with Jordan Jegat (Total Energies), Kévin Vauquelin (Arkea -BetB Hotels), Quentin Pacher (Groupama – FDJ) and Axel Laurance (Alpecin-Deceuninck). The yellow jersey teams and those of the favorites for the general classification validate the breakaway because the best classified of the latter, Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan Team), finds himself relegated to more than 15 minutes of Romain Bardet.

With 140 km to go, the gap between the two groups has passed the 8-minute mark. The stage scenario seems clear at this point in the race. Given the difficulty of the finale, the riders will climb the San Luca hill twice (3rd category / 1.9 km at 10.6%), we will have a battle for the final victory in the breakaway and a battle between the Tour favourites to try to create gaps for the general classification.

The peloton accelerates in the first difficulties

While we thought that the peloton was going to let the breakaways slip away, Pogacar and Vingegaard’s teammates proved us wrong with a strong acceleration by both teams on the Monticino and Gallisterna climbs, increasing the gap to 5min30 with more than 100 km of racing still to go. With this show of strength by the UAE Team Emirates and Visma Lease a Bike teams, the chances of victory for the 10 in front (Bram Welten having recovered on the Monticino climb) seem to be compromised.
However, fate seems to be turning in favor of the leading men because a fall at the back of the peloton concerning Van Aert and Jorgenson (Vingegaard teammates) forces the group of favorites to slow down again. The gap goes back above 8 minutes with less than 75 km of racing remaining.
While victory seemed to be decided between the 10 in front, the Lotto Dstny team decided to accelerate at the head of the peloton to come just 3min30 behind in the first ascent of the sublime San Luca hill.

The race heats up on the San Luca hill

In a sublime setting and with a delirious crowd, the return of the peloton pushes the leaders to pick up the pace. The Tricolores are in control in the steepest percentages of the climb (up to 19%) with Axel Laurence standing on the pedals to place his attack. The offensive of the rider from the Alpecin-Deceuninck team allows the leading group to remobilize, which maintains a gap of more than 3 minutes with 25 km remaining.
While it was thought that the victory would be decided on the final climb between the 10 in front, Oliveira (Movistar Team) decided to attack on the flat. The Portuguese rider was followed by the weighted jersey and the Frenchman Kévin Vauquelin. The three escapees widened the gap and would fight for victory on the final climb.

Vauquelin flies to victory

The final percentages of the San Luca coast will have been the judge of the peace for this 2nd stage. As the road rises, Kévin Vauquelin has tingles in his legs and decides to place a sharp attack on his ex-breakaway companions. The rider from the Arkea – BetB Hotels team opened up a gap of almost 40 seconds with his pursuers which would prove decisive. For his first Tour de France, the 23-year-old puncher will deliver on the winding descent and allow his team to obtain its first victory on the Grande Boucle. The French are on fire with a second French victory in as many days of racing.

Pogacar in yellow

The San Luca climb was also the first big moment between the general classification favourites and the least we can say is that the 2024 Tour will strongly resemble that of 2023. The Pogacar – Vingegaard duel is finally underway. It is the Slovenian rider who will have launched the hostilities by placing a sharp attack at the top of the climb which will leave the entire peloton on the spot except for his eternal rival.
The two men prance in front of the peloton and widen the gap on the winding descent to Bologna. The leader of the UAE Team Emirates will have tested his opponent in an exercise which saw him fall a few months earlier. The two escapees will be caught just before the line by Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) and Carapaz (EF Education – Easypost). The gap will unfortunately be too big with Romain Bardet, which allows the Slovenian to already don the yellow jersey.