Stage 2

The road

At the start

Alaphilippe in yellow, the Mur twice

The world champion has the first maillot jaune, twelve seconds up on Michael Matthews and fourteen on a grazed Primož Roglič — yesterday cost the race three riders and left half the peloton bandaged. Today runs east along the Pink Granite Coast with nowhere to hide from the Atlantic wind, then finishes on the Mûr-de-Bretagne, climbed twice, bonus seconds on the first.

How it was won

1. 168 km to go

   Theuns splinters the break

   On the fourth-category climb at Saint-Brieuc, Edward Theuns attacks the escape and only Cabot can go with him. The pair take two minutes into the final fifty kilometres.

2. 218 km to go

   The last of the break

   Theuns sheds Cabot on the little climb through the village but is swallowed over the other side, and the peloton lines up for the bonus sprint on the Mur itself.

3. 315 km to go

   Van der Poel shows his hand early

   First time up the Mur, with 17km still to race, Van der Poel simply rides off the front. Nobody follows. He takes thirteen seconds and the eight bonus seconds at the top, and it looks like a debutant's mistake.

4. 41 km to go

   The second time up

   Eight hundred metres from the line, on the same wall he has already attacked once, Van der Poel rips clear of the elite front group and is never seen again. Pogačar, Roglič and Kelderman detach themselves to fight for the scraps six seconds down.

5. 5At the line

   Yellow for Poulidor's grandson

   Van der Poel takes the stage and the maillot jaune, and dedicates it to his grandfather Raymond Poulidor — the most beloved rider in the history of this race, and a man who wore the yellow jersey exactly never.

The result