Van der Poel wins after fantastic finale and steals the yellow jersey from teammate Philipsen in Tour de France stage 2

The chaos of stage one was still fresh in the riders’ minds, but stage two of the 2025 Tour de France would prove no less intense. The ride to Boulogne-sur-Mer featured far more elevation gain, but the weather was the real problem. Just like on Saturday, the wind was fierce, and from the start in Lauwin-Planque it was pouring rain. It was cold, wet, and to make matters worse, the organizers faced transportation issues.

All this led to a delayed start. Fifteen minutes later than planned, the peloton rolled out of the tiny northern French village, with the official start given at 12:50 p.m. That triggered a flurry of attacks, but the battle didn’t last long. Four riders quickly broke clear: Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R), who had made the polka dot jersey his main goal and was in the break again just like on Saturday, along with Yevgeniy Fedorov (XDS-Astana), Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), and Belgian Brent Van Moer (Lotto).

The leading quartet wasn’t given much space, with Alpecin-Deceuninck and Intermarché-Wanty keeping control. And just like yesterday, there was another crash in the breakaway. On Saturday it was Mattéo Vercher and the first polka dot jersey wearer Benjamin Thomas who went down; this time it was Leknessund and Fedorov. They both slid out awkwardly in a slick corner but managed to rejoin their two breakaway companions.

With all four back together, they battled for the first KOM point, which went to Leknessund despite his earlier crash. Meanwhile, the rain gave way to dry weather, and the sun even peeked through at times. But that didn’t necessarily make things safer. A big crash occurred in the peloton, involving riders like Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) and Victor Campenaerts (Visma | Lease a Bike). However, it was Lennert Van Eetvelt who came off worst. The Belgian Lotto rider was badly battered but, thankfully, was able to get back on his bike.

After some time chasing, Van Eetvelt managed to rejoin the peloton, but he didn’t look great. Things then calmed down. The wind stayed relatively quiet, and the terrain wasn’t too demanding. Meanwhile, the breakaway continued to lose ground on the peloton. The only real action before the finale came at the intermediate sprint about 55 kilometers from the finish. Fedorov took the points in the breakaway, but in the peloton, tensions flared. Jonathan Milan outsprinted Merlier and Girmay, but the Italian was furious with the white jersey wearer, though it wasn’t entirely clear why. He gestured wildly to show his anger.

That intermediate sprint turned out to be the breakaway’s final act. A few kilometers later, they were caught by the peloton. This marked the start of a hilly section, even before the real finale began. It kicked off with the Côte du Haut Pichot, a real leg-breaker. The GC contenders stayed at the front there, and Philipsen was also alert. Milan had worse luck: he crashed on the climb and seemed to be in trouble.

Girmay also had to chase, making it look nearly impossible for him and Milan to get back into contention. After the Haut Pichot, it was a waiting game for the brutal final ten kilometers. Three tough climbs remained, including one right at the finish line in Boulogne-sur-Mer. Tension ran high in the run-up to that finale.

The action kicked off with the first steep climb. Groupama-FDJ ramped up the pace, and then it was Matteo Jorgenson who launched a full attack. It caused a major split: Pogacar went with him, along with Vingegaard, Van der Poel, Evenepoel, and Romain Grégoire. The gap to the rest wasn’t huge, but Roglic, Philipsen, and others had serious work to do to get back. Evenepoel and Van der Poel kept pushing the pace. From behind, a handful of riders managed to claw their way back to the front group.

In the descent, it was a game of stop and go, riders were looking at each other, allowing a group of about 20 to 25 to reach the foot of the Côte d'Outreau together. Roglic was back in the mix, but the yellow jersey wasn’t. Jhonatan Narváez moved to the front to set the pace for Pogacar, but Kévin Vauquelin didn’t want to wait. He attacked, but couldn’t get away. That was when Vingegaard decided to take a gamble, but Evenepoel and Pogacar were quick to respond.

Then it was Vauquelin again who attacked, this time joined by Jorgenson and Joe Blackmore (Israel – Premier Tech), but UAE reeled them back in. An attack by Florian Lipowitz was also countered, though the German handled the corners brilliantly. He managed to open a small gap, but Narváez kept driving the pace at the front, preventing him from getting far.

As they entered Boulogne-sur-Mer, the road climbed once more. UAE Team Emirates caught the lone German under the flamme rouge. Almeida set the tempo for Pogacar, but the first to launch was Julian Alaphilippe. Van der Poel came out of the Frenchman’s slipstream to start his sprint from the front. Pogacar was on his wheel but couldn’t come around him. Vingegaard finished impressively in third behind the pair.