2024 Tour de France Stage 2 Results & Recap
Stage 2 of the 2024 Tour de France is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
That's Two For France
Breakaway rider Kévin Vauquelin went solo on the finishing circuit in Bologna. The 23-year-old Frenchman headed out alone on the steep San Luca climb to take the win.
Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel, and Richard Carapaz crossed the line as the best GC riders. Pogacar is the new maiilot jaune.
“A good day? Well, so-so," Pogacar said. "Today, when the break went, we knew they had a good chance of making it to the finish. 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 by 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…”
Following several in-vain attacks, a group distances the peloton after 7kms of action. Mike Teunissen, Bram Welten, Quentin Pacher, Axel Laurance, Hugo Houle, Nelson Oliveira, Kévin Vauquelin, Cristián Rodríguez, Harold Tejada, Jordan Jegat, and KOM leader Jonas Abrahamsen open up a lead of almost 10 minutes.
Welten lost contact on the Côte de Monticino while Abrahamsen extended his KOM lead at the summit. The Norwegian was also the first to crest the Côte de Gallisterna, Côte de Botteghino di Zocca, and Côte de Montecalvo.
The gap has fallen to 4.43 minutes when the leader crossed the line for the first time.
Laurance strikes from the lead group on the steepest stretch of the San Luca climb. He reaches the summit with Pacher, Vauquelin, Rodríguez, Tejada, and Abrahamsen. And again, the Norwegian grabs most KOM points. The other attackers regain contact in the descent.
Back in Bologna, Oliveira countered an attack by Teunissen. Vauquelin and Abrahamsen went with him. The trio crossed the line 15 seconds ahead of the chasers while the peloton was 3.47 minutes in arrears.
Ben Healy, Warren Barguil, Alexey Lutsenko, and Odd Christian Eiking attacked from the peloton before the finish passage.
Vauquelin continues on his own in the second San Luca ascent, and he reaches the summit with a 43-second lead. Meanwhile, yellow jersey Romain Bardet was dropped from the GC group.
Tadej Pogacar attacks in the last part of the climb, and Jonas Vingegaard followed him like a shadow. Remco Evenepoel and Richard Carapaz reached the summit as the best of the rest.
While Vauquelin crosses the finish line celebrating, Evenepoel and Carapaz went all out to catch the two top favorites. In the final kilometre, they succeeded before Carapaz won the sprint. Bardet came home 21 seconds later in a group with other GC contenders.
Pogacar now leads the overall classification, tied on time with Evenepoel, Vingegaard, and Carapaz.
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