We’re still in the Netherlands, if you couldn’t tell from looking at the stage profile already. About as flat as it can be, Stage 2 carries the peloton out of Utrecht to the Zelande province, which borders both on Belgium and the North Sea. The finish is located on the artificial island of Neeltje Jans, surrounded by the spectacular Delta Works, a string of huge structures designed to protect the region from storm surges and floods.
The yellow jersey, in all likelihood, will stay firmly on the shoulders of Vlatos for at least one more day, as no sprinter is even close to within 20 seconds of his lead. Whoever wins the stage, though, will be the new leader of the points classification. No mountain points until tomorrow, but Geoghegan Hart and Ganna are currently tied at the top of the young riders classification, so depending on finishing positions, we might see some movement there. But let’s just jump into the stage and see where it takes us. Well, to Zelande, but you know what I mean …
Christodoulos is the first aggressor of the race, followed closely by Bolor-Erdene.
Without many bonus points along the way, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of hunger to be in the breakaway and the duo quickly builds a lead of 1’30. In a curious move, Groselj then attacks to bridge across to his teammate. Krigbaum latches on.
That doesn’t inspire anyone else either and the peloton settles into a comfortable rhythm through the streets of Utrecht, with a wide range of teams taking turns.
Groselj and Krigbaum quickly make their way to the front and the quartet leaves the outskirts of town with a solid three and a half minutes on the pack.
Windmills and tulip fields … could you be any more Dutch?
The intermediate sprint takes place in Rotterdam. Groselj is the best sprinter on paper, but Bolor-Erdene is decently quick as well.
Groselj even has his own lead-out man, but the line is coming closer quickly. Will he make the jump in time?
Actually, he doesn’t make the jump at all. Krigbaum takes the sprint head-on and no one can pass him. Bolor-Erdene is second, Christodoulos third.
This year, the Top 5 get points at intermediate sprints, so the sprinters get ready in the peloton as well. Halvorsen gets Ahlstrand to the front, Saber and Van Poppel follow.
Vanderbiest, Jakobsen and Enger are to their left, Dzamastagic and Van Stayen to their right.
Halvorsen releases Ahlstrand in the perfect position, only Vanderbiest, Saber and Van Stayen may still have a shot.
But it’s indeed Ahlstrand who takes the remaining 1 point. All this pace has cut the gap to the escapees down to 1’30.
Shortly after, Jakobsen suffers an unfortunate puncture. But King Power send almost the entire team back to get him, and he rejoins the peloton quickly.
Three teams have taken the reigns at the front of the pack and it’s the ones you’d expect: Evonik, Volvo and EA Vesuvio.
The pace is pretty high now, so Ji’s puncure proves to be much more consequential than Jakobsen’s. Without any teammates to help him, he won’t make it back to the peloton. A few kilometers later, Grossschartner suffers the same fate. Has someone thrown nails on the road here?
Crossing the Haringvlietdam, one of the elements of the Delta Works, the breakaway riders still work well together, but they haven’t been able to get the gap back up to more than 2 minutes.
In fact, when they cross the Brouwersdam a few minutes later, the peloton has them already in sight.
Which means that the obligatory late attacks are now upon us. Krigbaum goes first, followed by Bolor-Erdene. The Swisslion duo stays together for now.
With just 8 kilometers to go, Bolor-Erdene still holds out, with Groselj and Krigbaum behind him. The peloton is still 25 seconds away, surely they’d like to make the catch sooner rather than later.
Haugard and Van Zandbeek lead the peloton as they sweep up Krigbaum on the other side of the road, but Bolor-Erdene and Groselj still have some fight left in them. 6 kilometers to go.
Only Groselj remains as we head into the final 4 kilometers, but two fearsome trains have emerged behind him. To the left, Goos and Reimer lead Van der Lijke ( Holloway is further behind). Stash brings Jakobsen to the front behind them, Van Poppel on their left.
On the right side, Stoltz, Becis and Dzamastagic are all still ahead of Van Stayen. Vanderbiest is in the mix behind him, Ahlstrand is positioned a bit awkwardly to the French’s right.
Groselj fought valiantly, but it’s over for him now. Reimer is at the front, the last man ahead of Van der Lijke. Volvo have put together their own train with Halvorsen ahead of Ahlstrand. Van Poppel and Vanderbiest maneuvered themselves well to be at the front.
Meanwhile, the Evonik train has gotten a bit lost. Van Stayen still has two of his men ahead of him, but he’s fallen behind a bit, now riding next to Santos and Saber, with Jakobsen and Enger on his wheel.
Reimer slows down hard, and apparently without a warning, and Van der Lijke has difficulties getting around him. That stops him almost cold, and with him Van Poppel, Vanderbiest, Santos, Jakobsen and Enger.
Halvorsen on the other hand jumps to the front with a massive acceleration and takes Ahlstrand with him, Saber about a bike length behind. To the right, Dzamastagic has found a way out of the mess and Van Stayen follows him. There’s still more than a kilometer left though. Soupe and Nizzolo managed to latch on to this group, then there’s a gap.
Under the red kite, the Volvo duo is looking well. Ahlstrand is still in his lead-out’s slipstream, but Van Stayen feels like he has to make a move now, despite Dzamastagic still going strong. Van der Lijke has found some pace again, but he was in the wind for a while already. Saber could benefit, as could Van Poppel. Vanderbiest leads the rest of the bunch.
Ahlstrand waits long to get to the front, but the timing might be just right. Van Stayen and Saber are currently the fastest, but they’ve been in the wind for longer, as has Van der Lijke, who’s nevertheless still doing well.
The quintet behind them, led by Van Poppel and Vanderbiest, already has quite a gap, but they’re going strong. How much is still on the table for them?
It’s a four men race for the win, that much seems clear. Saber and Van der Lijke try to attack Ahlstrand from both sides, but the Swede still holds on to his lead.
Vanderbiest and Santos now attack Van Poppel’s fifth place, who’s losing a bit of steam.
At the front, it’s game over for Van der Lijke, who will have to settle for 4th place. Can Van Stayen or Saber attack Ahlstrand at the last second?
No! By a solid bike length, Jonas Ahlstrand wins Stage 2 of the Tour de France and takes over the green jersey! Just a perfectly executed sprint by Volvo, fantastic job!
Van Stayen beats Saber to take second place. Maybe if Evonik’s train hadn’t got caught up in the sprint prep, more would have been possible, but there will be plenty of other chances. Van der Lijke finishes fourth.
Vanderbiest manages to move past Van Poppel in the final few meters, he’s fifth. Santos scores a very respectable 7th place for ISA.
Jakobsen and Enger follow, a better result obstructed by their poor positioning …
… which is even more so true for Soupe and Nizzolo, who finish 11th and 12th behind Dzamastagic.
Vlatos finishes safely in the middle of the pack, he gets to wear yellow for another day, as expected.
At the very first opportunity, the consensus Top 2 sprinters butt heads and claim the first two places, with the better end for Ahlstrand, who scores his second career Tour de France stage win and will don green tomorrow. However, with the hilly nature of the finish, Van Stayen will be in the mix again while the Volvo rider likely won’t - a chance for the Belgian to snatch the jersey immediately.
Speaking of jerseys, nothing changed for the white, since Ganna finished towards the back of the pack, quite a few places behind Geoghegan Hart. Finally, after his unfortunate puncture, Ji takes over as the new Lanterne Rouge.
As I said, tomorrow will be hilly as we head to the Mur de Huy. It remains to bb seen if there will be any big gaps, but any inattentiveness could certainly be punished.
Tour de France 
