It was a 'dubbelslag' for Dutch sprinter Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) on stage 2 of the Tour de Luxembourg as the 27-year-old started his sprint from a long way out in Junglinster to both win the stage and move into the race lead.
As Van den Berg powered up the right side of the road, stage 1 winner Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) popped out and tried to match him, but faded in the final 50 metres and finished fifth, outside of the time bonuses
Timo Kielich (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Pierre Gautherat (Decathlon CMA CGM) finished on the stage podium.
With the 10-second time bonus, Van den Berg leads Gautherat by four seconds with Van der Poel tied on the same time.
"It was always the goal to go for the sprint with me, and the team was super strong with keeping me in a good position," Van den Berg said. "I think we never really lost control because Mikkel [Honoré] was always also there, and Lukas [Nerurkar] did a really good lead-out, like we planned already in the bus this morning. Luckily I had some legs to to do a long sprint. I went a bit too early, but it was good enough."
It could have come out very differently had there been one more metre of road, as Van den Berg won by a thin margin after having a more sizeable lead with 50 metres to go.
"It was a bit of a stupid move, I guess, but I felt good, and I felt that was the moment to add the momentum there. And I was like, I just go. And when it was 25 meters left, I felt it was 25 meters too far. But I kept on going, and I really was super motivated to get this victory. So I couldn't stop anymore, and I needed to win this one."
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Results
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Position
Rider (Country) Team
Time Gap
1
Marijn van den Berg (Ned) EF Education-EasyPost
3:50:12
2
Timo Kielich (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike
Row 1 - Cell 2
3
Pierre Gautherat (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM
Row 2 - Cell 2
4
Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Soudal-QuickStep
Row 3 - Cell 2
5
Mathieu Van Der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Premier Tech
Row 4 - Cell 2
6
Elias Maris (Bel) Team Flanders- Baloise
Row 5 - Cell 2
7
Andrea Bagioli (Ita) Lidl-Trek
Row 6 - Cell 2
8
Eike Behrens (Ger) Team Lotto Kern-Haus Outlet Montabaur
Kirsten Frattini has been the Editor of Cyclingnews since December 2025, overseeing editorial operations and output across the brand and delivering quality, engaging content.
She manages global budgets, racing & events, production scheduling, and contributor commissions, collaborating across content sections and teams in the UK, Europe, North America, and Australia to ensure audience and subscription growth across the brand.
Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.
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