Stage 2 Of The Tour de France Summary

In Stage 2, Dutch cyclist Mathieu van der Poel won the hilly second stage of the Tour de France on Sunday after holding off defending champion Tadej Pogačar and two-time winner Jonas Vingegaard in a sprint to the line. It is the case that the early stages, like stage 2 of the 21-stage race, were not hotly contested. That is not the case anymore.

Stage 2 was surprisingly hilly for an early stage in the Tour de France, but it was short enough to keep most of the riders together for a sprint finish. The yellow jersey switched shoulders in stage 2. That is par for the early stages of a multi-stage bicycle race. Are you watching?

Stage 2 Summary

Stage 2 was a slightly hilly and wet 209-kilometer (130-mile) tour from Lauwin-Planque to Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France. Stages are typically about 130-150 miles long. Though the mountain stages are a bit shorter. van der Poel took the race leader’s yellow jersey from his teammate Jasper Philipsen with his victory in stage 2. He has not continued as a general classification contender, but he did beat the top two contenders in the sprint today, Pogačar and Vingegaard.

“It was super difficult, the finale was harder than I thought. But I was motivated,” van der Poel said. “Finally, four years after my first stage win [in the Tour de France], it was about time I took a second one. It’s also the second time I’m rewarded with the yellow jersey as well, so I guess it was worth the wait.”

On the stage, Romain Grégoire of the Groupama-FDJ team came in fourth. The ageless Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe of the Tudor Pro Cycling Team placed fifth. In the early stages of this race, expect the overall leader’s yellow jersey to switch frequently between riders as different sprinters win the various stages. There are time bonuses associated with the top placements in each stage.

The Americans

Cycling is not very popular in the United States, but we are experiencing a little bit of a Lance Armstrong bump, about 20 years after he raced. There are five Americans in the 2025 Tour de France: Will Barta, Matteo Jorgenson, Sepp Kuss, Neilsen Powless, and Quinn Simmions. Of the five, the rider with the best chance to finish in the top ten is Jorgenson.

Jorgenson had a great tour in 2024, his third, and hit an impressive 8th overall. It was the first top-10 by an American rider since Tejay Van Garderen was fifth in 2014. He is a key lieutenant for tour contender Jonas Vingegaard. Sepp Kuss is also a key lieutenant for Vingegaard. He had a dramatic solo victory on stage 15 in 2021 and missed last year’s Tour de France with COVID. He won the Vuelta de España in 2023 . That was the first win of a major tour by an American in a decade.

Neilson Powless has made five Tour starts, so he is experienced. His five Tour starts are the most by the current American generation. He finished 12th in 2022. He is not a contender for a win in the general classification but could win a stage, like stage 2.

Quinn Simmons is coming off the biggest win of his career with a stage victory at the Tour de Suisse. He is a key sprint lead-out man for the Lidl-Trek team, so expect to see him on sprints in the second half of the race. Stage 2 does not suit him well. Finally, Will Barta will be debuting in the Tour de France in 2025. His main task is to tow general classification contender Enric Mas as high up the climbs as he can.

Conclusion

The Tour de France is the most impressive athletic feat in the world. Imagine riding a bike around a country like France in a month-long race. That is why doping is an enormous issue in professional bicycling. There is a great deal of strategy at play in the Tour de France, and there are intermediate sports and mountain points at stake within a given stage that teams race for.

Those intermediate points are worth a lot to teams as they want to wear their jersey associated with the king of the mountains or the sprint points. A team wearing one of those jerseys is worth millions of dollars in sponsorship to them.