Pogačar takes yellow jersey in Bologna

Slovenian animates second stage and leads General Classification

At the end of the second stage of the Tour De France, 199.2km from Cesenatico to Bologna, Tadej Pogačar leads the General Classification, thus claiming the Yellow Jersey.

From the very first kilometres, the stage saw a breakaway gradually gaining significant minutes, reaching up to a 9-minute advantage over the main group.

The San Luca GPM, 1.9km at an average gradient of 10.6%, tackled twice by the riders, was as expected the turning point of the day.

On the second ascent, at 12.6 km from the finish line, there was a winning attack from Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels) on the breakaway group, pulling away from everyone to win the stage solo. Shortly after, Pogačar’s attack stirred the waters in the main group, with only Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma Lease a Bike) able to stay on his wheel, with the two gradually gaining precious seconds on the chasers.

The two took turns on the front for the last kilometres while the remaining breakaway riders crossed the finish line one by one. Caught by a strong final counterattack from Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) and Carapaz (EF Education – EasyPost), the Slovenian rider from UAE Team Emirates finished the stage in 14th position but claimed the overall lead thanks to his fourth-place finish yesterday.

Pogačar: “In the final circuit I felt super good, and the pace was super high already the first-time up San Luca because of how the Visma team pulled. Then, the second time, we decided to try so I could test myself a bit.

Jonas Vingegaard was really quickly on my wheel. I’m not surprised of his level. We cooperated well together, but Remco and Richard did it too and came back to our wheel at the very end.

The whole circuit in Bologna was super crowded, and the climb was insane! Really unbelievable. It’s the cycling we should all love.

Am I going to keep the yellow jersey for long? Well, I prefer to take it day by day and stick to the original plan.”

Tomorrow is the first stage suited for sprinters, with the last segment on Italian territory taking the riders 230.8km from Piacenza to Turin.

2nd Stage Results:

1. Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels) 4h43’42”

2.Jonas Abrahmsen (Uno-X Mobility) +36”

3.Quentin Packer (Groupama FDJ) +49”

14.Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) +2’21”

General Classification after stage 2:

1.Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) 9h53’30”

2.Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) s.t.

3. Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma Lease a Bike) s.t.