Stage 2

The road

At the start

The Great Belt Bridge, and the wind

Yves Lampaert, a QuickStep domestique with no business winning a Tour time trial, wears yellow by five seconds over Wout van Aert and seven over Tadej Pogačar. Today is 202 kilometres around the Zealand coast and then eighteen kilometres of the Great Belt Bridge, exposed on every side, with a twenty-kilometre southwesterly forecast. Every directeur has spent the night thinking about echelons.

How it was won

1. 175 km to go

   Green jersey opens at Kalundborg

   Bystrom leads Cort across uncontested, and half a minute later Ewan takes the bunch sprint for 15 points ahead of Van Aert and Sagan. The wind is already combing across the road as the race turns south for the bridge.

2. 219 km to go

   Yellow goes down on the Great Belt Bridge

   Urán is already gone, dropped by a crash before the span. Then the maillot jaune himself hits the tarmac in the crosswind on the 18km bridge. The peloton, out of respect, sits up and waits while Lampaert claws his way back along the team cars.

3. 32 km to go

   Carnage inside the final 3km

   Jungels slides out in a turn, and metres later dozens go down with Ineos Grenadiers in the middle of it. The sprinters are ahead of the wreckage and the finale runs on regardless.

4. 4At the line

   Jakobsen repays QuickStep in Nyborg

   Lampaert leads out in yellow, and Fabio Jakobsen comes from behind to edge Van Aert and Pedersen. The team that left Cavendish at home is vindicated in a single throw of the bike.

The result