Key events
GC standings after stage two
It’s all pretty tight at the top. Le Court is less than a second in front of Vos. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, Kasia Niewiadoma Demi Vollering are all well placed in third, fourth and fifth respectively.
Stage two results
Letizia Paternoster, Mavi García’s Liv AlUla Jayco teammate who was also in that chasing peloton, is almost overcome with emotion, gloriously blubbing her way through her interview:
I’m so happy for the team. It means a lot. We deserve it. It’s a really big emotion. Me and Mavi are really great friends, more than teammates. I’m so happy.
Kim Le Court takes the yellow jersey!
Despite being unseated earlier on the stage with a bike change, Kim Le Court has moved into yellow with that third-place finish today! The Mauritian is juuuuuust ahead of Marianne Vos in the overally GC standings. What a day for African cycling!
Le Court is interviewed by TNT Sports, and seems completely unaware that she has nabbed the yellow jersey!
It was chaos. Today was really difficult in the bunch, a lot of screaming. Everyone was on the limit on the finish, a proper finish.
García is mobbed by her Liv AlUla Jayco teammates. She crossed the line with her hand on her helmet, complete disbelief and now appears to be in tears as the magnitude of her ride starts to set in. That was so, so brave. She went solo, 9km from the line, and held on, despite two tricky climbs.
Mavi García wins stage two!
Garcia has done it!!!!! That was an absolutely sensational ride from the 41-year-old, the oldest rider in the race. The GC riders in the peloton left it too late! Wiebes grabs second, Le Court third.
400m to go: Wiebes, Vos, all closing. Garcia is holding it!
1km to go: García is digging deep! One final climb as the peloton give chase. Kim Le Court moves, Vos too! This is going to be close! Just a few metres in it. Pain etched all over García’s face.
2km to go: We have one final climb, with around 900 metres to go. That will be the final test for García, whose lead is 12 seconds.
3km to go: Mavi García is flying down the descent at over 60km/hr. Can the veteran hold on?
4km to go: García reaches the top of the Cat. 4 climb and retains a 14-second lead! But here come the peloton, with Shirin van Anrooij leading the chase.
5km to go: The GC riders are circling, the gap is down to just 10 seconds. Demi Vollering threatens to make a move, but sits calmly at the head of the peloton.
6km to go: Mavi García, aged 41, nervously looks over her shoulder as she enters the final Cat. 4 climb, 1.1km at an average of 5.7%. García is a brilliant climber, though. She will be going for broke, and still has a 15-second lead.
7km to go: These roads are so narrow, and the chasing peloton is becoming stretched as they battle for space on the tarmac. The GC riders have to make sure they don’t lose position.
8km to go: The gap is now 18 seconds! García, who came third in the Giro d’Italia, is going full throttle for this stage win, which would be a huge boost to Liv AlUla Jayco.
9km to go: Mavi García, the oldest rider in this year’s race, attacks! She opens up a 10-second gap and she whizzes down a descent. The Spaniard lost five minutes yesterday but is completely solo here. It would be a remarkable effort is she can keep the peloton at bay.
The breakaway is caught!
12km to go: Marion Bunel of Visma-Lease a Bike really empties the tank as the peloton surges up the road, just a few metres shy of the breakaway group. Eventually the four in front are swallowed up. The peloton is one again. Who will be next to attack?! One Cat. 4 climb to come, and a nifty descent with narrow roads. There are plenty of opportunities.
15km to go: It’s Visma–Lease a Bike who are leading the charge in the peloton as they try to chase down the front four – Vos in the yellow jersey is tucked in just behind her teammates. The gap is down to around 20 seconds.
17km to go: Markus makes to their breakaway! So now there are four up front, alongside Chabbey, Smulders and Squiban. Markus lost well over a minute on the first stage, but the Lidl-Trek rider was seen as a dark horse for this year’s race. She is certainly capable of taking the stage from this point.
19km to go: Niewiadoma and Ferrand-Prévot are caught, with the peloton moving up to hoover up the pair. Riejanne Markus is the next to attack and the Lidl-Trek rider goes solo as she chases down the leading trio of Chabbey, Smulders and Squiban.
Niewiadoma and Ferrand-Prévot break from the peloton!
21km to go: Niewiadoma and Ferrand-Prévot jump out of the saddle in an attempt to get some separation and the two GC riders succeed in gaining a 20-second gap to the rest of their rivals in the peloton!
23km to go: The leaders head up a sharp slope, 11% at some points, as the leading trio compete for those bonus seconds. Chabbey takes them, just ahead of Squiban! Smulders looks like she is struggling.
25km to go: The peloton pass through the finish line in Quimper before the riders embark on their final lap of the circuit. A bell sounds as the riders head towards the bonus sprint.
27 km to go: So we have a leading trio of Chabbey, Smulders and Squiban, just over 30 seconds ahead of the chasing peloton. In five kilometres, we’ll have some bonus seconds on offer before the final run to the finish line.
Chabbey adds two more KoM points!
30km to go: On yet another Cat. 4 climb, Chabbey and Smulders again battle for the KoM points as they hurl themselves up the hill. Chabbey takes it at the top of Cote du Chemin, and moves ahead in the polka dot standings. She now has nine points in total, three clear of her nearest rival.
Bike change for Kim Le Court!
31km to go: Kim Le Court is unseated after some sort of crash, with the GC contender struggling to get going again. She is fortunate that she has a teammate nearby and changes her bike. Can the Mauritian rider, who finished second on stage one, get back to the peloton?
32km to go: A big descent as the riders enter the final circuit around Quimper. Chabbey and Smulders are losing their lead, with the GC riders obviously deciding that enough is enough.
37km to go: That Cat. 4 climb has again stretched the peloton. Rijnbeek has dropped back from the leading duo – Chabbey and Smulders – and is joined by Maëva Squiban, the UAE rider, who has jumped forward from the peloton. The total gap from the leaders to the peloton is just over 30 seconds.
41km to go: Chabbey beats Smulders to the summit of Côte de Locronan, with Rijnbeek trailing behind. Chabbey reasserting her dominance, after Smulders took the earlier KoM points.
42km to go: Côte de Locronan begins! The road is so, so narrow and the peloton do well to negotiate a tricky left-hand corner, with only Elena Cecchini coming off! That could have been so much worse. Rijnbeek, Chabbey and Smulders are still out in front, about 45 seconds ahead, and are being cheered on by the healthy Brittany crowds.
44km to go: Am told the imminent Côte de Locronan climb is actually more like 1.4km, at 7%. The leading trio – Rijnbeek, Chabbey and Smulders – now have a lead over the peloton of 53 seconds.
47km to go: This is a bit of a holding pattern as the riders weave the last 4km towards Locronan, immediately after which comes the first Cat. 4 climb, 0.8km at 8.9%. A short, sharp ascent that could be decisive come the end.
51km to go: One rider, Maud Rijnbeek, has broken away from the peloton to reach our leading pair of Chabbey and Smulders. Now now the leading group numbers three. Impressive stuff from the Dutch rider to breach the gap on her own. The peloton is now around 35 seconds off the leading trio.
55km to go: Smulders and Chabbey are our new leaders and as they fly down the descent, they open up and retain a 15-second lead over the chasing pack. That Cat. 3 climb was just three kilometres but has really separated the peloton. There are now two distinct groups, but GC prospects Niewiadoma, Vos, Vollering and Gigante and France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, winner of the women’s Paris-Roubaix are all in the first group, which numbers around 50 riders.
Silke Smulders takes the KoM points!
59km to go: Smulders digs to pull away from the peloton, with only Elise Chabbey for company. But Smulders holds the front and reaches the top of Ménez Quelc’h to beat the polka dot jersey and take three points. Chabbey still leads the KoM standings, though, having earned two there.
Koch and Biannic are caught by the peloton!
60km to go: The first real climb of the day, a Cat. 3 climb to Ménez Quelc’h, a 3km climb at 6.2%. Both Koch and Biannic are caught, and now it’s going to be a race to the top for those KoM points.
63km to go: Crash involving Ane Santesteban of Laboral Kutxa – Fundación Euskadi! She comes off after failing to negotiate some cobbles. Santesteban’s chain comes off but she gets going again after some help.
Intermediate sprint results
65km to go: Koch takes the intermediate sprint ahead of Biannic and as the peloton comes in behind the leading pair, there’s a great contest between Vos and Lorena Wiebes for the third place. Wiebes is such a strong sprinter and pips the yellow jersey, earning 17 points in the green jersey standings. Vos takes 15 points.
70km to go: The gap to the front two is down to 50 seconds. Koch and Biannic are pushing but are slowly getting sucked back towards the peloton.
75km to go: A reminder of who holds which jerseys at today’s stage. Vollering is actually wearing the green jersey today, with Vos in yellow and the second placed rider, Kim Le Court, opting to wear her national Mauritian jersey today.
79km to go: While we’re on the subject of EF Education–Oatly riders, just catching up on a little crash in the peloton involving Kristen Faulkner, the 2024 Olympic champion. It looks as though Faulkner is OK and back on her bike but has lost valuable time, around 40 seconds behind the peloton.
81km to go: Brest-born Cédrine Kerbaol, who finished sixth overall in last year’s race and won stage six, enjoyed a fine send off in her hometown at the start today. She is tucked just at the front of the peloton, alongside her EF Education–Oatly teammates. I wonder if she might be an outside bet for the GC standings this year if she can have a good day today.
Early breakaway!
88km to go: Franziska Koch was given the the combativity prize for attacking time and time again on stage one, and the German is at it again on day two! Koch and Aude Biannic are the two riders out in front, around 1min08secs ahead of the peleton.
Here’s what Koch had to say overnight, after the combative stage one. She is obviously fired up.
I was hoping to get into the break, but sometimes it takes 10 tries before the 11th one finally works. I’ll keep trying, and the good thing is that we have plenty of options in this team. The vibe is really positive.”
It’s worth flagging that this is a particularly early start for the riders, after a relatively late finish (6.38pm BST) yesterday. That is a tight turnaround, for the riders and the support staff to get their meals, massage and rest in, especially as the finish in Plumelec is over 200km from today’s start in Brest.
Stage two, though, is the second shortest stage of this year’s race, clocking in at 110km.
This is our report from the first stage. Vos made a point of praising her Visma Lease a bike teammate, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, who herself had made a late break for the finish, before being overhauled.
“I didn’t now if Pauline was still hanging [on] in the finish, but in the end I sprinted a bit with Kim,” Vos said after the hilly 78.8km route from Vannes. “I’m really grateful to the team and to Pauline,” she added.
Preamble
The riders begin today at the Tour’s most westerly point in Brest at the start of what is officially classed as a flat stage. But a ‘flat’ stage with three Cat. 4 climbs, plus another Cat. 3 climb thrown in for good measure, means this is not necessarily going to be a sprint finish. This is a stage for the puncheurs, the all-rounders, so it would not be a surprise to see someone like Marianne Vos finish strongly again here today – the 38-year-old rolled back the years on Saturday to win stage one and the yellow jersey.
Here are the GC standings after stage one:
1. Vos
2. Le Court + 4”
3. Ferrand-Prevot +6”
4. Niewiadoma +10”
5. Vollering +13”
6. Puck Pieterse +15”
7. Van der Breggen +15”
8. Jansen +19”
9. Pauliena Rooijakkers +19”
10. Pfeiffer Georgi +19”
There is a circuit of Quimper to finish today, with a slight uphill finish, we’ll have to see if there is a late attack, or if someone goes for it earlier, perhaps on one of the Cat. 4 climbs. Let’s see. It is an intriguing and exciting day in the saddle.
Roll out: 12.10pm BST
