THRILLING FINISH! 😮‍💨 | Men’s Tour de France Stage 2 Race Highlights | TNT Sports Cycling

Men’s Tour de France Stage 2 Race Highlights.

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Stage two on the tour to France. Destination, the seaside, Bolognia Sur. Well, plenty of water there would be at the finish and plenty would fall from the sky throughout the day as well. This was gnarly and nasty. The great and the good, ambassadors and indeed contenders on display before the start. Smiles and nerves, I think you might say. A wet start to stage two of the tour to France. And there was real tension in the paddock amongst the riders. There was many, many riders bandaged up from the day before. A lot of GC riders also with a lot to do, but there’s also a real classics feel. I’ve never seen Taliba so focused as he was at the start today. And I tell you what, there was a glint in the eye of the out-out favorite Machivander. And it looks like the finish could suit him. Nervous, tense, but excitement also in the Pelaton. Expectation is one thing, delivery is entirely another. And everyone knew that this day would be extremely tough. The weather wasn’t helping either. Bucketing down from the skies on a wide open plane that, well, at least when we looked at the map, looked reasonably benign. Not a bit of it. 2 and a half thousand meters of altitude gain spread throughout the entire run of 209 kilometers, the longest stage of this year’s tour to France. This was no easy task. Very much a feel of the classics, the monuments you might say, and a monumental effort it would be needed to win it. Kushin Puram getting us off and underway. There was a reasonable pace about it despite the wet and sketchy conditions. And in this sort of terrain where the road pitches and tosses all over the escarment and back down into the little river valleys, this was no easy task to stay upon the bike. Bike handling skills would come to the four. We’d had plenty of mishaps the day prior, but ultimately we got ourselves a breakaway that looked very solid indeed. Amarai who’d been in the break on stage one. Andreas Lechnes the Norwegian champion. Brent van Moore up there as well but the Viking hit the deck. Lechnerson was down. Yeni Fed off likewise and it was a question of just reathering itself as far as the breakaway. They did so just as the sun came out. The roads dried with a lot of inherent heat down there and a lot of intent. White hot you might say in the minds of the main contenders. Nobody quite knew whether this would be a GC day or indeed a sprint at the finale and we were getting sprints on the K as well. A polka dot jersey potentially up for grabs with the categorization of the climbs rising to three today. And so that competition was still wide open. The pack rolled through the gap had maxed out about 2 minutes and 40, but it was slowly but surely coming down. And with around 54 kilometers to go, we were still hitting the lines. Intermediate sprint came, intermediate sprint went, Fedorov took it, but there was plenty of points left on the ground for those following on. And just as a mark of how important these points are, it got a bit feisty. Biam Gamay his movement not to the liking at all of Jonathan Milan who gave vent to his frustrations after they crossed it. Well, they need to calm themselves down. This is a very very long tour to France. They need friends everywhere you can find them. So it was that the breakaway was almost accidentally caught and with all of the mounting points stacked at the back and some very very nasty petons to contend with with ramps of 12 13 14% as well. This was tough with 30 km to go. They were pushing on. This was more about establishing a gap and so they Julie came as touches of wheels caught a few out including Garrett Thomas who had to uncip and a few others. Thankfully, nobody who hit the deck today found themselves too badly hurt. Well, the gaps over those peaks and troughs just became magnified time and time again. Yes, there was a reathering of the pellet, but every single time they went over one of these bosses, they had to go again. The crowd were out in force. They wanted a piece of the day, but so did the principles. Paga, Vingugo, and Evanopol were right there, but so was Matthew Vanderpole and plenty of other hopefuls as well. With 8.6 6 km remaining. The attacks started to rain down. Some just hoping to get a jump on the GC men. Some hoping that maybe maybe this could turn out to be one for the bow. It was certainly tough enough. Remco Evanal finding himself just slightly out of position on occasion, but was rocking his way back into it. Oscar Onley was one of those that was getting very animated. Arca were lively with Kevin Vocal as well. The power tickets were out, but the fireworks were still to come at the line. Yet another test was to be had, one that would not be passed on this day by the leader. Yespison. The yellow jersey was destined to go elsewhere. And Yiannis Vingo himself showing how spritly and determined he is here on the very best of form and well quite capable of putting on a display. Ultimately, the main favorites were looking at each other as other attempts at a snatch went up the road, but ultimately this was going to come down to a drag race on a nasty incline and a sprint for home. Nothing easy about this race ever. But once they passed the Flam Rouge, we knew we had got a firecracker of a finale laid before us. This was going to be special. As day one was, day two would prove to be as well. He goes, he pauses again. There’s a pause. It’s wait. It’s accelerate. And right on the wheel of Matthew Honipul who is thinking about it is Tade Patcha. Then you can see here she moves turning again. The excitement is building. It stop starts stuff. And now with 100 meters to go, they see the line. There is Matcha Vipool up against a Patchan. Patchan is there though. It’s Fool who has it. And magic from Matcha. Matcha. Fapool wins the stage. and will pull on the yellow jersey. What a magnificent performance by the big man, Matthew Vanderpole. He last won a tour to front stage in 2021 and he’s only gone and done it again. More than that, he is of course our new leader and how wonderful to see the main contenders for the overall title also doing battle. Brilliant entertainment in the opening two days of this tour to France. It does not get much better than this. Where will the next win come from? Machi Vander Paul may well be in the frame and going into yellow means he may well hold it for a few days. Genius at work.
It was super difficult. The final was actually harder than I thought. Um yeah, I was uh really motivated finally after uh it’s been 4 years I think since I’ve won my first stage uh on the tour to France. So, it was about time. I uh I won a second one. It’s time for Matthew Vanderpol who leads this race by 4 seconds from Teleipacha, Yonis Finger, Vocalan, and Jorgensson. One happy man. Job done. And by the look of the parkour in the next couple of days, he might just go and do it again. Next up, it’s the run to Dunkerk, heading further north. The place where ships set sail. Let’s hope indeed for the very best to do precisely that on what is bound to be another dramatic day. What will the weather be? We have absolutely no idea. Likewise, who ultimately will win the day? Could be the sprinters, could be the break. We’re just going to have to wait to find out. Just one climb to interrupt the pace, man. You just never know. We’ll see you tomorrow for more of the same. Brilliant.