Groenewegen second after photo finish as young Luxembourger wins rain-soaked stage 2 at Star of Bessèges

Stage 1 of the French stage race had already delivered plenty of late drama on Wednesday. Early break rider Victor Vercouillie (Flanders Baloise) was caught in the final hundreds of metres, after which Lukas Kubiš (Unibet ROSE Rockets) looked set for victory in Bellagarde — only for 20-year-old Tom Crabbé (Flanders Baloise) to come past in the very last moments.

Crabbé therefore started stage 2 in the leader’s jersey, with the peloton tackling 163 kilometres from Saint-Gilles to Domessargues. Four riders went up the road early: Samuel Leroux (TotalEnergies), Mael Guegan (CIC), Arnaud Tendon (Van Rysel Roubaix) and Axel Bouquet (St Michel–Auber 93). Behind them, Unibet ROSE Rockets immediately took control at the front of the bunch to keep the gap in check.

What should have been a fairly straightforward sprinters’ stage turned into a grim battle with truly dreadful conditions — strong wind and constant rain. It made the day far heavier than expected, including for the four riders out front, whose advantage gradually began to shrink.

With 30 kilometres to go, the break still held just under two minutes, but Bouquet soon dropped away, leaving three leaders. They continued to fight on and still had around half a minute with four kilometres remaining, forcing the peloton to commit fully to the chase.

As the finish approached, Tendon attacked from the break with three kilometres to go, briefly reigniting hopes of a surprise. But the bunch swallowed up the move in the final moments, setting up the expected showdown between the fast men. In the end, Kockelmann emerged as the unexpected winner, taking his first victory of the season for Lotto–Intermarché ahead of Groenewegen and Moschetti.