Peter Sagan out-slugged Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-QuickStep) in a slow-motion uphill sprint in a thrilling conclusion to a wet and undulating 183km stage from Saint-Lo. The 26-year-old’s reward? The first maillot jaune of his career – secured after overnight leader Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) was dropped towards the finish.
Despite Sagan’s victory it was a bittersweet stage for his Tinkoff team with Spanish veteran Alberto Contador crashing for a second successive day before being dropped on the decisive Cote de la Glacerie in the finale. Grimacing and downcast, Contador came home 48 seconds down on his victorious team-mate as his horror start to the 103rd edition of the Tour continued.
Contador was not the only big name rider to suffer a huge set back: Australian Richie Porte (BMC) picked up a flat tyre inside the final five kilometres and finished 1:45 down on Sagan.
With bonus seconds factored in, Sagan leads Alaphilippe by eight seconds in the general classification with Spaniard Alejandro Valverde of Movistar – who finished in third place ahead of Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) and Michael Matthews (Orica-BikeExchange) – two seconds further back to complete the current podium.
British defending champion Chris Froome (Team Sky) rode a textbook stage to finish in tenth place and move into fifth on GC, 14 seconds down on Sagan.
Belgium’s Jasper Stuyven – the last man standing from a break of four riders – had looked on course to snare the yellow jersey on only the second day of his maiden Tour but the 24-year-old Trek-Segafredo rider was agonisingly caught inside the final kilometre.
Stuyven did feature on the podium, however, to receive the polka dot jersey after picking up maximum KOM points over three of four categorised climbs.
How the stage was won
Break: There was a sense of deja-vu on Sunday as two Bora-Argon 18 riders (Paul Voss and Cesare Benedetti) teamed up with a Fortuneo-Vital Concept rider (Vegard Breen) in a four-man break that also included that man Stuyven.
It looked very much like this was a battle for some screen time and a right to wear the polka dot jersey as the gap edged out to five minutes over the rolling roads of La Manche.
Voss, who secured the polka dot jersey on Saturday’s opening stage, didn’t have the same climbing legs one day later, with Breen and Stuyven (twice) taking the points available at the top of the three fourth-category ascents in the opening 50-odd kilometres.
Turning point: Once again it took a crash to shake things up during what was becoming a rather uneventful and soggy stage in Normandy. A touch of wheels in the peloton with 125 kilometres remaining caused a raft of riders to hit the deck – including Contador, Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin) and Marcek Kittel (Etixx-QuickStep).
Although he appeared unhurt in the crash, Contador reportedly fell on the same right-hand side that he injured badly in Saturday’s opening stage. Paced back by five Tinkoff team-mates, Contador soon returned to the peloton – but it set the tone for the difficulties experienced by the two-time champion later in the stage.
The upshot of the incident – which detained around two dozen riders – was that the leading quartet saw their lead grown to six minutes. And with the gap still over three minutes with 20 kilometres remaining, the odds certainly appeared to favour the escapees over the pre-stage favourites back in the pack.
Finale: Italian Benedetti was first of the leaders to throw in the towel – and when the remaining trio hit an uncategorised climb with nine kilometres remaining, Stuyven took advantage of his rivals’ weary legs by launching a stinging solo attack.
It was the Etixx-QuickStep team of Alaphilippe who led the chase alongside Lotto-Soudal, BMC and Team Sky as Stuyven approached the foot of the final climb with more than a minute to play with. His lead was whittled down on the steep 14 per cent ramp of the Cote de la Glacerie and the Belgian lone leader held just a handful of seconds when he crossed the summit ahead of the flamme rouge.
Teed up by Tinkoff team-mate Roman Kreuziger, Sagan powered past Stuyven with a few hundred metres to spare before holding off Alaphilippe, Valverde, Barguil and Matthews for his first victory on the Tour since winning stage seven in Albi back in 2013.
Good day
Perhaps the most astonishing thing about Sagan’s victory was that he didn’t even know he’d won.
“I’m very surprised I won because I was thinking that there were still two guys in front. It wasn’t until I was congratulated at the finish by other riders that I realised I won,” Sagan said after becoming the first world champion since Thor Hushovd in 2011 to swap the rainbow stripes for yellow.
“It’s nice [to be in yellow]. It’s the first time in my career and it’s unbelievable. I’m happy with the rainbow jersey but the yellow is also fantastic.”
Should Sagan lose the race lead any time soon he could well replace yellow with a more familiar colour: the Slovakian now leads the green jersey points standings too.
It was also a memorable day for Stuyven, who despite being denied a maiden Tour win did at least pick up the polka dot jersey for his troubles.
Bad day
While Tinkoff will be ecstatic about Sagan ending his winless streak on the Tour in such style there will be concerns about Contador’s ability to turn things round in a race that has already seen him suffer more than many.
“It was a mixed day,” Tinkoff directeur sportif Sean Yates told Eurosport at the finish. “One has to be happy for Peter because he took the stage best suited to him and won the yellow jersey.
“On the other side of the coin we’re depressed because Alberto crashed again and lost a lot of time. But the show must go on. Alberto is a fighter and it’s not over until Paris.”
Contador was not the only big name rider to concede time to a leading group of 26 riders that included the likes of Froome, Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Fabio Aru (Astana), Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) and Romain Bardet (Ag2R-La Mondiale).
Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) lost 11 seconds after missing out on the split on the final climb, Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) lost 24 seconds and Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha) lost 41 seconds – seven less than Contador.
But the big loser of the day was Australian Richie Porte (BMC), who punctured inside the final five kilometres and had to wait an age while the neutral service car changed his rear wheel. The 31-year-old eventually came home 1:45 down on his main rivals – including former Sky team-mate Froome – and will approach the Pyrenees this weekend already very much on the back foot.
Stage 2 Brief Results:
- Peter Sagan (Slovakia / Tinkoff) 4:20:51″
- Julian Alaphilippe (France / Etixx – Quick-Step) ST
- Alejandro Valverde (Spain / Movistar)
- Daniel Martin (Ireland / Etixx – Quick-Step)
- Michael Matthews (Australia / Orica)
- Wilco Kelderman (Netherlands / LottoNL)
- Tony Gallopin (France / Lotto)
- Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium / BMC Racing)
- Bauke Mollema (Netherlands / Trek)
- Chris Froome (Britain / Team Sky)
General Classification After Stage 2:
- Peter Sagan (Slovakia / Tinkoff) 8:34:42″
- Julian Alaphilippe (France / Etixx – Quick-Step) +8″
- Alejandro Valverde (Spain / Movistar) +10″
- Warren Barguil (France / Giant) +14″
- Chris Froome (Britain / Team Sky)
- Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium / BMC Racing)
- Nairo Quintana (Colombia / Movistar)
- Roman Kreuziger (Czech Republic / Tinkoff)
- Simon Gerrans (Australia / Orica)
- Daniel Martin (Ireland / Etixx – Quick-Step)
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