Tour de France: Van der Poel wins at Mûr-de-Bretagne

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) produced a remarkable onslaught on the double ascent of Mur-de-Bretagne to claim victory on stage 2 of the Tour de France and move into the yellow jersey.

The Dutchman came home six seconds ahead of defending champion Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), who outsprinted compatriot Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) and Wilco Kelderman (Bora-Hansgrohe) to second place.

Van der Poel’s decisive attack came with 800 metres remaining when he ripped clear of an elite front group with a devastating acceleration, but he had already laid out his intentions the first time up the climb, when he surged clear to sweep up the bonus seconds on offer at the summit.

After falling short on the opening stage, Van der Poel was eager to make amends here and the Tour debutant dedicated his yellow jersey to his late grandfather Raymond Pouliodor, who so marked the history of the race but who never wore the famous garment during his career.

“I have no words. Really I don’t know what to say,” Van der Poel said.

“I gambled a little bit and I played everything the first climb already because I knew I needed the bonus seconds if I wanted the jersey and it was also my last chance to get the yellow jersey. It’s incredible.”

Van der Poel’s first acceleration came at the foot of the first ascent up Mur-de-Bretagne with 17km to go. His lone effort there initially looked like folly. Nobody deigned to follow as he built up a lead of 13 seconds and that advantage gradually shrank as he approached the summit.

Although Van der Poel picked up the 8 bonus seconds on offer there – while Pogacar outsprinted Roglic, Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Richard Carapaz (Ineos) for second – it appeared as though he had erred in showing his hand so early.

The normal rules, of course, don’t seem to apply to Van der Poel, who seemed just as fresh on the final ascent up the climb.

By then, Ineos has taken over at the head of the peloton, and they set a relentless pace on the approach to the finishing climb. Richie Porte led on the lower slopes, pegging back an acceleration from Davide Formolo (UAE Team Emirates), but the race ignited when Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) attacked with 1.2km to go. Van der Poel swiftly shut down that move and he also snuffed out an effort from Italian champion Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain Victorious) before deciding to test the waters himself.

He ripped clear of the shrinking front group with 800 metres remaining, never to be caught again. Behind, the group fragmented in the closing metres, with Pogacar, Roglic and Wilco Kelderman (Bora-Hansgrohe) detaching themselves from the rest and contesting second place – and the time bonuses – 6 seconds down on Van der Poel.

Yellow jersey Julian Alaphilippe was unable to repeat his sparkling display of 24 hours earlier, coming home 5th at eight seconds at the head of a group of 20 or so riders. Geraint Thomas (Ineos), well placed throughout the run-in, was unable to follow the pace on that tumultuous final climb, and he conceded 23 seconds to Van der Poel, as did Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana Premier Tech), while Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos) lost a further 3:48.

In the overall standings, Van der Poel carries the yellow jersey into stage 3 with a lead of 8 seconds on Alaphilippe. Pogacar lies third at 13 seconds, one second and one place ahead of his fellow Slovenian Roglic. The headlines belong to Van der Poel for now, but the overarching narrative of this race is developing just behind him.

How it unfolded

After the mass crashes that marred the opening stage, the peloton was populated by the walking wounded on Sunday, but that did little to diminish the intensity of the stage, which was animated by a six-strong group of early attackers.

Anthony Perez (Cofidis), Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo), Simon Clarke (Qhubeka-Nexthash) and Jonas Koch (Intermarché-Wanty Gobert), Ide Schelling (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Jérémy Cabot (TotalEnergies) forged clear in the opening kilometres, and they would build a maximum lead of 4 minutes over the peloton before Deceuninck-QuickStep set about placing limits on their movement.

The king of the mountains Schelling and his closest rival Perez provided an entertaining duel on the day’s early climbs as they battled for possession of the polka dot jersey, though the contest would almost be rendered moot by Van der Poel’s double strike on Mur-de-Bretagne, which netted him the lead in the mountains classification to boot.

The break splintered when Theuns attacked on the category 4 ascent at Saint-Brieuc, where Jacky Durand won the prologue of the 1995 Tour. Theuns was joined over the other side by Cabot, and that duo held a lead of two minutes over the peloton as they entered the final 50km. They still had 1:25 in hand with 30km remaining, but that advantage quickly melted as the pace heated up in the peloton behind.

Theuns dropped Cabot on the climb of the Côte du Village de Mur-de-Bretagne with 19km to go, but he was swept up over the other side, as the peloton prepared itself for the bonus sprint on the Mur-de-Bretagne itself, where Van der Poel began his one-man show.