Tadej Pogačar may have narrowly missed out on his first shot to take the yellow jersey on stage 2 of the Tour de France into Boulogne-sur-Mer, but he and his UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad are not concerned by today's outcome.
The Slovenian talisman couldn't quite match Mathieu van der Poel's power on the final uphill drag to the finish in the coastal town, with Alpecin-Deceuninck registering back-to-back stage wins at Le Tour as a result. Alpecin kept hold of the maillot jaune too, albeit on the back of another rider.
Pogačar, who finished second and picked up six bonus seconds, was rewarded with the polka dot jersey for his efforts earlier in the stage, though. He scored three points collectively on the Côte du Haut Pichot and Côte de Saint-Étienne-au-Mont climbs to lead the King of the Mountains classification by a single point.
Despite leading the classification several times before, and winning it twice in 2020 and 2021, Pogačar has only ever worn the jersey once on a stage, such has his presence in yellow or the maillot blanc been in recent years.
"Tomorrow is going to be [my] second day ever in polka, if I counted right, and I'm looking forward to it, because people like it, it's a special jersey," he said afterwards.
Reflecting on whether he could have gone one better, the three-time Tour winner was satisfied considering the complexity of the stage and weather conditions.
"It was everything: rain, stress, hectic, danger, short climbs, just like a Classic, and I was feeling good in the end. As a team, we rode really good, but Mathieu was stronger at the finish line today."
Van der Poel will not threaten Pogačar's GC credentials over the coming weeks, though, with today's result handing him a slender advantage over Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) on the overall standings, as the pair sit second and third respectively, split by two seconds.
Sports director Andrej Hauptmann saw the stage as a job well done, telling Cyclingnews that staying safe was the priority.
"I think we did a good job. We stayed safe on the dangerous points. We were in front on the final [climb]. We were present. Our main goal was not to lose any time, avoid problems, and if possible, put some time on our main rivals in the GC."
"It was super-chaotic"
Despite not winning the stage, Pogačar will be buoyed by the presence of his teammates in the latter kilometres of stage 2, after only Tim Wellens could make the split during Saturday's echelons. In contrast, João Almeida and Jhonatan Narváez were in the lead group right to the final climb on Sunday and helped to keep the pace high.
The Portuguese climber lost position twice late on, though, and felt he could have done more to help his leader take the stage win. He highlighted a tight run-in with overspilling crowds and limited barriers when evaluating his day.
"It was super-chaotic, and it's just impossible to pass because the road is full of people, full of riders. So it is what it is. I managed to come back and give help, but I didn't do exactly what I wanted to do," Almeida said afterwards.
"Maybe I could have given a hand to Johnny at that moment to pull, I think we could have made the race even harder."
Team sports manager Joxean Fernández Matxin did hint that the opening weekend of racing was already taking its toll on his squad, as Visma-Lease a Bike's 'Classics' approach, with rolling attacks on the rolling Cat.3 and Cat.4 climbs, was clearly leaving their mark.
"Today, [Nils] Politt, [Pavel] Sivakov and [Marc] Soler spent a lot [of energy]. But it's important for the situation [on the stage]."
Perhaps even more pressing on the Basque manager's mind was the dangers that tomorrow's stage into Dunkerque poses. "The situation of this Tour de France is that tomorrow [there] is rain, and the rain is dangerous. It's complicated."
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