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Victor Lafay ended a 15-year drought for Cofidis by successful stage 2 of the Tour de France in San Sebastian with a perfectly-timed assault beneath the flamme rouge on the finish of a thunderous closing hour of racing.
A pissed off Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) banged his handlebars after successful the dash for second place from the elite group that shaped over the Jaizkibel, whereas Tadej Pogačar (UAE Workforce Emirates) helped himself to the time bonus for third having beforehand snaffled eight seconds after overpowering Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) atop that closing climb.
Adam Yates (UAE Workforce Emirates) completed safely within the 25-strong entrance group to retain the yellow jersey, however his teammate Pogačar was the massive winner among the many general contenders on Sunday. He strikes as much as second within the general standings of the Tour de France, six seconds off Adam Yates, due to the 12 seconds of time bonuses he picked up throughout the day.
The ultimate ascent of the Jaizkibel, so acquainted from the Clàsica San Sebastian, was the positioning for the most recent instalment of Pogačar and Vingegaard’s unending duel as they jousted for the bonus seconds on the summit with 16km to go.
Pogačar took the dash after the pair cruised away from the sphere, and so they started the descent with a 15-second lead over the chasers. Aware that his teammate Wout van Aert was the favorite for stage victory, nevertheless, Vingegaard declined Pogačar’s entreaties to experience, and so a 25-strong group would contest the stage honours.
Ben O’Connor (AG2R Citroën) and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) have been the notable absentees from the entrance group, conceding 58 seconds and a couple of:25, respectively, by the day’s finish.
Wilco Kelderman labored to tee up Van Aert on the run-in, however the Belgian did among the key marking himself, monitoring late strikes from Tom Pidcock (Ineos) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek).
Van Aert opted to carry his fireplace, nevertheless, when Lafay took a flyer with a kilometre to go. The Frenchman had already proven his type by monitoring Pogačar and Vingegaard on the Côte de Pike on stage 1, and he shouldn’t have been underestimated right here as he pulled off a pitch-perfect coup du kilomètre to say Cofidis’ first Tour stage win since Sylvain Chavanel again in 2008.
“After I made my effort, I wasn’t eager about successful or not, I used to be simply targeted on doing my most effort,” Lafay stated. “I noticed the road, I noticed the countdown – 500m, 400m – and I noticed my watts have been dropping slightly bit. I stated to myself, ‘Allez, allez, allez’ and I believed till the end.”
Lafay was already a trendy stage winner on the Giro d’Italia two years in the past in Guardia Sanframondi, however he had appeared to succeed in a brand new stage within the spring of 2023. That type line continued upward on the opening day of the Tour and affirmation arrived when he seized the second in San Sebastian.
“Yesterday, I used to be a sufferer of the marking between the favourites. In the present day I profited from it,” Lafay stated. “I noticed that Jumbo had labored rather a lot within the closing and I stated to myself that it might be a good suggestion to have a go together with a kilometre to go. Wout wasn’t going to experience himself then.”
UAE Workforce Emirates spent a lot of the day setting the tempo on the head of the bunch, partly in defence of Yates’ yellow jersey but in addition meaning to arrange Pogačar’s onslaught on the Jaizkibel. Yates duly led out the Slovenian on the climb, and Pogačar’s haul of bonus seconds lifted him to second general, six seconds off the yellow jersey. Simon Yates (Jayco-Alula) is third on the identical time, whereas Vingegaard is sixth at 17 seconds.
“In the long run, we arrange Tadej for the bonus seconds and within the closing, I believe we did an excellent job. All of it trusted the bonus seconds and the ultimate – if Tadej gained the bonus and the stage, he would have crushed me, however we stored [the yellow jersey] with the group,” stated Adam Yates.
The way it unfolded
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After shedding Richard Carapaz to the accidents he sustained in his crash on the opening stage, EF Schooling-EasyPost have been decided to reignite their Tour, and Neilson Powless instantly stepped as much as the plate. The American had taken the polka dot jersey Saturday and he would spend the majority of stage 2 of the entrance in his profitable bid to defend it after attacking early on with Rémi Cavagna (Soudal-QuickStep) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (TotalEnergies).
On the longest day of the Tour, the trio established a most lead simply shy of 5 minutes as they wound their approach from Vitoria to San Sebastian, acclaimed on each hillside by lots upon lots of Basque followers.
Powless, as anticipated, led the break over the climbs of Udana, Aztiria, Alkiza and Gurutze, and he could be the final man standing come the mighty Jaizkibel, an ascent so acquainted to him after his 2021 triumph on the Clàsica de San Sébastian.
UAE Workforce Emirates – with Mikkel Bjerg particularly lively – had dictated phrases within the bunch all day, setting a tempo that noticed numerous sprinters, Mark Cavendish amongst them, distanced with 80km to go.
On the decrease slopes of the Jaizkibel, it was Jumbo-Visma who took up the reins for Vingegaard, slicing Powless’s lead to a couple seconds and whittling down the bunch nonetheless additional, however the race took on a brand new guise when Rafał Majka hit the entrance for Pogačar some 3km from the summit.
Powless was caught quickly afterwards – “All I may do was experience threshold in Jaizkibel. I wanted to go no less than one minute sooner to carry off the bunch,” Powless stated – and solely 25 or so riders remained involved on the strategy to the summit.
Yates upped the tempo additional within the final kilometre earlier than Pogačar accelerated, bringing Vingegaard with him in the direction of the mist-shrouded summit. The Slovenian gained the dash on the prime and, regardless of the slippery roads, he initially pressed on over the opposite facet, flicking his elbow looking for a flip from Vingegaard. The Dane opted in opposition to it and the transfer petered out, however the duel nonetheless has 19 extra levels to run.
Outcomes
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