MVDP Does Like To Be Beside the Seaside

Stage 2 was a puncheur’s race, and Mathieu van der Poel was the favourite.

The Dutchman has a taste for flashy sports cars, and has recently been promoting climate-destroying private jet travel; that makes him very hard to like.

Regardless, today he was the best at pedalling fast up short, sharp hills – notably, the final one in Boulogne-sur-Mer. As well as winning the stage, he took the yellow jersey as overall race leader.

Breakaway

There was an early break, with Bruno Armirail, Yevgeney Federov, Brent van Moer, and Andreas Leknessund.

They were still out front to contest the intermediate sprint with 54km to go. Soon after, they were caught by the bunch.

The Finale

The uphill sprint to the line was contested by a small elite group.

Van der Poel beat Pogacar, with Vingegaard in third. Romain Grégoire was fourth, Alaphilippe fifth, and Oscar Onley sixth.

Video Highlights

These are video highlights of Stage 2.