2023-07-02 15:59:00
“I just tried and did my best. It was a bit frustrating yesterday. But today you saw how competitive I am and to be at the front is unbelievable. Yesterday I wasn’t able to beat the big names, to be able to do that today is a huge relief for me,” said 27-year-old Lafay following giving his team their first Tour stage win since 2008.
Already on the first stage on Saturday, Lafay was the only one who might follow Tadef Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) and defending champion Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo – Visma) in the steep ramp at the Cote de Pike. But then he missed the decisive attack of the Yates brothers over the crest and on the descent.
In San Sebastian he played the poker game of the late attacks perfectly, kept calm up to the final kilometer and then struck impressively there. The stage win also saw Lafay move up to fourth in the overall standings, just 12 seconds behind Adam Yates’ (UAE Team Emirates) yellow jersey.
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Pogacar’s four-second bonus for stage three moves him up to second in the standings, just six seconds from his teammate. Third overall is his twin brother Simon Yates (Jayco – AlUla / + 0:06). The Yates twins crossed the finish line in San Sebastian in 20th (Simon) and 21st (Adam) at the same time as winner Lafay.
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The first group also included Emanuel Buchmann and Bora-hansgrohe captain Jai Hindley. Buchmann had even ridden an attack five kilometers before the finish, but mightn’t get away alone.
While Adam Yates claimed the yellow jersey, Lafay took the lead in the points classification and with it the green jersey. The mountains classification remains at the top of Neilson Powless (EF Education – EasyPost), who was in the breakaway of the day and extended his lead. Powless now has eleven points, Pogacar as the first pursuer seven. The Slovenian remains first in the junior classification and wears white.
This is how the 2nd stage of the Tour de France went:
After the sharp start on the outskirts of Vitoria-Gasteiz, attacks rained down immediately and it took a few kilometers until the breakaway trio of the day found themselves. After ten, however, the main field was satisfied with the situation: Edvald Boasson Hagen (TotalEnergies), Remi Cavagna (Soudal – Quick-Step) and mountain jersey wearer Neilson Powless (EF Education – EasyPost) drove ahead and their gap quickly grew to one minute and up to the intermediate sprint following 40 kilometers to 4:30 minutes.
There, Boasson Hagen got the 20 points and 1,500 euros for first place without a fight, in the peloton Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin – Deceuninck) prevailed just ahead of Sam Welsford (DSM – Firmenich) and got 13 points for the fight for green in fourth place.
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The advantage of the leading group remained constant for a long time and then increased once more to five minutes with 140 kilometers to go before Powless secured the first mountain prize on the Col d’Udana (3rd cat.). There the peloton, mainly led by Vegard Stake Laengen and Mikkel Bjerg (both UAE Team Emirates), was still 3:50 minutes behind. Powless also got the second mountain classification eight kilometers later and the field had closed up to 3:25 minutes by then.
After that, however, UAE relaxed once more and the gap widened once more to 4:30 minutes at the halfway point of the race. In the second half of the race, however, the gap steadily decreased and at the Cote d’Alkiza there were only 1:50 minutes left with 68 kilometers to go. Powless secured the next two mountain points there and ensured that he will also wear the mountain jersey on Monday.
Powless enters the Jaizkibel climb alone
But now only Boasson Hagen was at his side because Cavagna had lost touch on the climb. The same was true at the end of the peloton for some sprinters like Mark Cavendish (Astana Qataqstan), Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal – Quick-Step) or Sam Welsford (DSM – Firmenich), who now formed a gruppetto.
Powless and Boasson Hagen increased their pace once more and began to defend themselves once morest the catching up peloton. With 55 kilometers to go, their lead increased once more to 2:20 minutes. At the Cote de Gurutze, Powless left his Norwegian companion behind with 36.5 kilometers to go and continued on his way to the finish line, almost two minutes ahead of the peloton, which was still exclusively led by UAE Team Emirates.
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27 kilometers before the finish, on the approach to the 8.1 kilometer long and 5.3 percent steep Jaizkibel (2nd cat.), Jumbo – Visma finally intervened in the leadership work. Under the Dutchman’s pace dictate, Powless’ lead shrank to less than a minute in the first two kilometers of the climb. Ultimately, however, it was an increase in the pace from Rafal Majka (UAE Team Emirates) that ensured that Powless was caught and passed with exactly 19 kilometers to go.
Shortly before the mountains classification, Simon Yates (Jayco – AlUla) launched the expected attack for the eight bonus seconds, but was overtaken by Pogacar and Vingegaard. The Slovenian won the bonus ahead of the Dane, the two tore a big hole with their start and started the descent to San Sebastian together. But there they let themselves be caught up once more by a group of only 22 people around Van Aert.
Buchmann attacks in the final
On the more technical lower part of the descent, local Basque hero Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) attacked and quickly tore a five second gap, but behind him Jumbo – Visma with Wilco Kelderman, Tiesj Benoot and Vingegaard organized the pursuit for Van Aert and took him 5th .5 kilometers before the end back once more.
Emanuel Buchmann (Bora – hansgrohe) used a brief moment of calm for a counterattack, but he was only 500 meters long before Jumbo – Visma once more for the union. But when Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl – Trek) attacked one following the other with three and 2.2 kilometers to go, Van Aert had to close the gap himself.
Kelderman came forward once more to control, but was unable to parry Lafay’s charge in the final kilometer and in the sprint, Van Aert and Pogacar were a few meters short of catching the Frenchman.
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