2023-07-02 16:05:13
Victor Lafay surprisingly won the second stage of the 110th Tour de France on Sunday. The Frenchman took the longest leg of this year’s Tour at 208.9 kilometers from Vitoria-Gasteiz to San Sebastian ahead of stars Wout van Aert and two-time Tour champion Tadej Pogacar. British winner Adam Yates successfully defended the yellow jersey.
In a game of seconds poker in the Basque Country, an aggressive Pogacar put his great rival and defending champion Jonas Vingegaard under pressure. On the difficult first two stages, the Slovenian collected eleven bonus seconds with two third places and wiped away all doubts regarding his form following the two-month forced break.
After the successful hill sprint on the Jaizkibel, he is six seconds behind Adam Yates, his teammate at UAE Emirates, and eleven seconds ahead of Vingegaard. “My hand felt good. My engine starts up slowly. I’m very happy with my form,” said the 24-year-old, who had fixed his wrist with the not yet healed scaphoid fracture with black tape. The injury he sustained at the end of April in the spring classic Liège-Bastogne-Liège did not hinder him, but obviously not.
But Vingegaard showed no weakness even on the steepest ramps and always stayed on the rear wheel. The Dane from the Jumbo-Visma team, who is at a disadvantage in a direct duel with Pogacar due to his lack of explosiveness, reacted accordingly calmly. “The tour will probably not be decided by seconds. We are on course,” emphasized the 26-year-old. He sees his chance on the long climbs in the high mountains.
From the Austrians, Felix Gall (AG2R), Patrick Konrad (Bora) and Gregor Mühlberger (Movistar) finished in a group exactly five minutes behind. In the overall standings, Gall is 42nd, 5:43 minutes behind and the best of the six ÖRV professionals.
On Monday, the tour bids farewell to Spain on the third stage over 193.5 km from Amorebieta-Etxano to Bayonne. Then the sprinters can hope for their first mass finish.
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