ALPECIN'S Mathieu van der Poel edged Tadej Pogacar to win the second stage of the Tour de France in a tense hilltop finale at Boulogne-sur-Mer on Sunday.
The victory saw the Dutch rider take the lead in the overall standings after depriving Pogacar of his 100th career win as around 30 riders broke away in the final 2km.
It was a second Tour de France stage win for Van der Poel, who took the yellow jersey from his teammate Jasper Philipsen -- the winner of Saturday's opening stage.
Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard seemed at ease as he crossed the line in third with Frenchman Romain Gregoire fourth and his compatriot Julian Alaphilippe fifth.
Van der Poel also won stage two on the 2021 Tour de France and then dug deep to retain the yellow jersey for six gruelling days.
“Winning again four years after the last time, that’s just great. In recent years I tried to get here on top form but never quite did,“ said Van der Poel, adding that racing the recent Criterium du Dauphine had done the trick.
“I also watched a video of the final kilometre three times this morning and knew exactly how to take it.”
The Dutch rider is the grandson of French cycling legend Raymond Poulidor, who came second in the Tour de France seven times, but never won and also never got to wear the yellow jersey.
“It was more emotional last time because he (Poulidor) had just died. I had so wanted to win it while he was still alive,“ said Van der Poel.
Poulidor's grandson had punched the ground and screamed wildly on realising he had taken the jersey on his previous Tour de France stage win at the Mur de Bretagne.
There were no such scenes this time.
“I had a feeling I could win the stage today but taking the yellow jersey is a nice bonus,“ said Van der Poel, normally better suited to the ultra-long Monument races, of which he won Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix this season.
His teammate Philipsen may have lost the yellow jersey, but he will set off Monday wearing the green one assigned to the peloton's best sprinter.
Defending champion Pogacar was also invited onto the podium due to the points he won atop the four hills of the day's stage that saw him earn the right to don the polka-dot king of the mountains tunic.
Team UAE's Slovenian rider is second in the overall standings, with Visma's Vingegaard just two seconds behind him in third.
- Stolen bikes and heavy rain -
The race got going as Pogacar and Vingegaard tested each other over the final 20km with three short, sharp climbs on narrow roads.
That struggle blew up a peloton that had been largely sedate until then.
Heavy rain left giant puddles at the tiny start town of Lauwin Planque as the 182 riders set off on the 209km run towards the coastal port.
Regional police estimated that one million spectators had lined the roadsides on the opening day of action, but the rain dissuaded that kind of turnout on Sunday.
French team Cofidis had to scramble Sunday morning as they had 11 bikes stolen from a team truck during the night.
Monday's third stage is a 178km flat run to Dunkirk, where a mass bunch sprint is expected unless the peloton gets splintered by winds as it did on stage one.
The first section of the Tour is raced through the north and west of France. The volcanic landscape of the Puy de Dome present the first mountains as late as stage 10, with two more colossal climb days in the Pyrenees before the blockbuster final week in the Alps - AFP
