The second stage of this race brings us the first serious ascents. While they might be short, they are sufficiently steep and close to the finish that we could possibly see some GC impact today already, especially since the final few hundred meters to the finish line consist of a steep ramp as well, something that’s not easily visible in the profile. The faster puncheurs - or punchier sprinters - will likely battle it out for the stage win.
After disappointing yesterday, Arnaud Demare is the big favorite once again, but he will be challenged by Ulissi and Anuar Aziz, among many others.
Contenders like Sicard, Phinney or Guldhammer might try and distance weaker puncheurs among their rivals, and Miguel Angel Lopez could make a first step towards the white jersey today as well.
Wearing the white jersey in Sanogo’s stead, Yzeiraj is the first attacker of the day, as he was yesterday! He really tries to leave a strong impression here.
And just like yesterday, too, there’s initially only one companion for the Albanian: Tizza was quick to react and joins him.
And that’s how it’s going to be again for now on this beautifully sunny day. This time, no one even tries to catch up. Depending on how far they get in the stage, Yzeiraj looks set to take the mountain jersey today.
The sprint here is likely not as significant as yesteday, but the duo still fights for it. Tizza proves to be the faster man and secures six points and seconds. They have around three and a half minutes on the peloton.
A little more important is the sprint for the guys back there. Stauff donning his yellow jersey moves to the front as does Van der Sanden to the right and Demare to the left, although he seems a bit boxed in.
And the French is indeed a little too late with his acceleration. Stauff extends his lead in the points classification (and the overall, technically) for now.
Yzeiraj’s big goal for today is the polkadots, so he’s eager to accelerate towards the first mountain sprint. Tizza is the quicker man on paper, he stays in his slipstream for now.
He tries to go past Yzeiraj, but the Albanian has the stamina to pull through. He now leads the mountain classification with 13 points ahead of Sanogo’s 8 and Tizza’s 3.
Interestingly, the final point is actually pretty contested. Mager and Smit collected a point each yesterday and attack for another one. The latter is successful and increases his total to, well, two.
Generali and Tinkoff are the main forces at the front of the peloton, with contributions from Indosat as well. Ulissi, Chernetskiy and Anuar Aziz have big ambitions for today and their teams bring the gap to the escapees down to around a minute and a half.
We’re starting to get into the hilly territory here and the escapees are about to get caught. Two men were always going to be too few to sustain an effort on this stage. With 15 points left to claim, Yzeiraj does not yet have secured the mountain jersey, he has to hope no one is first over all three summits.
Dees and Foliforov lead the pack through the first really steep sector of the day with gradients up to 13 percent. Puma keeps Demare in good position on the left there.
On the downhill towards the first of the three remaining mountain sprints, the peloton starts to split. Stauff is falling behind, which is not surprising. He’ll hope to keep the green jersey at the end of the day, but that’ll depend on what for instance Demare can achieve today.
Cavagna, Kung and Kolesnikov lead the peloton over the line after setting a pretty fast pace uphill.
In the buildup towards the final two mountain sprints of the day, a few more gaps open in the pack. 89 riders are together up front, among the riders caught behind are guys like Kangert, Nesset and Dekker, but also Van der Lijke.
Here’s a quick look at what the finish looks like in detail. Another very steep ascent is coming up, then around 10 kilometers of downhill and flat before we get to the final, less steep climb and the short ramp to the finish.
Cavagna takes another five points, he’s got ten now, seriously threatening Yzeiraj’s thirteen! A first or second over the final climb would give him the jersey! Mamykin and Kung collect the remaining points.
A few groups reunited and 120 riders tackle the final five kilometers together, including the yellow jersey. The same teams still remain at the front of the peloton.
We have some action! Towards the summit, Demare attacks! Chernetskiy, Ulissi and Anuar Aziz are right there with him, as we would expect!
Demare takes the mountain points, which means that Yzeiraj will wear the jersey tomorrow. We see Lopez and Sicard at the head of the peloton, trying to keep the attackers in check - or possibly join them.
A few riders later, a gap opens! In addition to the riders mentioned, only Guldhammer, Arifin, Kolesnikov and Madrazo made it. Can the Spaniard put some time into his rivals today already?
Demare establishes a small gap to Chernetskiy and Ulissi as he heads to the flamme rouge. The final few hundered meters are very steep though, so he has to preserve some energy for that.
Dombrowski with a good effort, he catches up with the group up ahead. But the rest of the peloton is very close behind, this could still all come together again.
Demare’s gap is only growing! I don’t see this getting away from him anymore!
Ulissi and Chernetskiy are still ahead of that next group of 8, Phinney and Barguil lead the rest of the pack as they desperately try to close the gap to Sicard, Madrazo and Dombrowski.
Demare gets closer to the line and he’s really struggling now! But his advance has to be big enough, right?
Especially since Ulissi and Chernetskiy aren’t very fast anymore either! Sicard and Guldhammer bring the chasers closer. There’s still a significant gap behind Dombrowski and Anuar Aziz who are at the back of the group, but will it stand?
Demare drags his body over the line, not even enough energy to celebrate, but he takes the stage and the yellow jersey along with it! After a bad result yesterday, this makes up for it I assume! He gets a 15 second gap to the next group as well.
Sicard has a strong final punch and takes second place alongside 12 bonus seconds, a very good day for him. Chernetskiy gets the final podium place for today ahead of teammate Kolesnikov, who beats Ulissi and Madrazo in a photo finish! Guldhammer and Lopez are next.
Dombrowski and a disappointing Anuar Aziz complete the top 10 and they get the same time as the guys ahead of them, but the important question is: Will there be gaps afterwards?
Yes! Phinney leads the peloton over the line and it doesn’t look like much, but they’re timed 20 seconds behind Sicard! A very nice result for the French, alongside fellow contenders Madrazo, Guldhammer, Dombrowski and Lopez, who also takes the lead in the young riders competition.
Stauff actually finishes in the peloton so he only drops to second overall. As expected, he has to give up yellow, and unfortunately for him he also loses green by 6 points to today’s winner - but he will still get to wear it tomorrow as the second best rider in that classification, with Demare in yellow.
Sanogo also has to give up his jersey after just one day. We’ll see if he tries to get it back at some point in the next few days.
Tour de France 
