Pedersen looked strong there. He looked well set for the win. But Van Aert managed to get back on terms, and he was suddenly the favourite, before the sheer pace of Jakobsen allowed him to take it by about half a wheel.
EF Pro Cycling will be relieved that they managed to get Uran back in the bunch before the finish and will be thrilled that Magnus Cort got himself into the polka-dots on home roads.
The bridge, apart from the crash for Lampaert and others, did not prove that dramatic. But the finish was incredibly hectic.
Fabio Jakobsen wins Tour de France Stage 2!
That was a bit of a messy sprint and a messy leadout but the pre-stage favourite, Fabio Jakobsen, wins in Nyborg! Mads Pedersen and Wout van Aert were right up there, but it is two in two for Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl.
Lampaert was on the front with about 600metres to go, but looked back and realised his teammates were not there. Trek-Segafredo then took it up for Pedersen, and the Danish rider looked set for a home stage win with 100m to go. Van Aert bounced back to move neck-and-neck with Pedersen, but Jakobsen ghosted up beyond both of them and sealed an excellent win.
1km to go: Final km! It’s a bunch sprint!
2.2km to go: BIG crash. I think Jakobsen made it through … he did indeed. But it will be a reduced bunch sprint.
3.5km to go: Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl have taken it up at the front, working for Jakobsen. Jumbo-Visma there too. The peloton takes a big right-hander – it’s tight, but it looks like everyone makes it through ok, with the exception of Bob Jungels, who loses his back wheel of his own accord.
5km to go: Trek-Segafredo, Bahrain-Merida and Ineos are among the teams powering away at the front. This has been a massive effort to get across the bridge in this wind. And we are about to really crank up for the “final”.
7km to go: “There will be a furious acceleration as they leave this bridge,” says David Millar on ITV4. It looks like it’s a bit of a ceasefire until they get off the bridge.
8km to go: The front of the bunch continues to battle into the headwind. Who is going to have the best positioning, and the freshest legs, when it comes to the sprint finish? We still have around 5km of bridge to cover.
10km to go: Not much happening up front. All is calm. The main excitement is the fact that Uran and his mates have got back among the team cars so they are well set to get back in the peloton. They still have 44” to make up. As it stands, this is shaping up to be a big bunch sprint, and the winner will almost certainly come from the big favourites.
14km to go: According to the official Le Tour site, Uran is back in the peloton, but I am not sure if that is correct … and indeed it is not. They have updated to make it clear he is in the chase group, which is a minute behind. Bettiol and Doull are there to help Uran.
16km to go: Lampaert gets back in the peloton. Back down the road, Uran and teammates are fighting to get back in touch with the main bunch. At this stage, it looks like that Lampaert crash is going to be the biggest drama we see on this bridge.
18km to go: The fact that it’s turned out to be a headwind rather than a crosswind on this bridge is going to mean it’s much more difficult to make a meaningful attack stick. Lampaert now has a couple of teammates with him as they attempt to get him back into the bunch.
19.5km to go: Lampaert, the yellow jersey, crashes!
There is a crash on the left-hand side of the road. Yves Lampaert is one of the riders to go down. Several of them have gone down heavily. Alberto Dainese (Team DSM) is another one of them. Up at the front, the riders are visibly labouring in the wind. Lampaert is getting some help from a team car to get back on.
21km to go: For the next 18km, the peloton will be on the bridge. The early signs are that teams will attack, although nothing has stuck yet.
22km to go: A crash in the peloton. Rigoberto Urán (EF Education-Easypost) is involved, he gets a new bike, and has to try and chase back on. There is a split caused by that accident but it looks like all the big sprinters are still up at the front.
24km to go: I can’t help wondering if we will see another shock winner today. Hopefully not due to a crash, of course, but there may well be splits, and the favourite sprinters could be taken out of the picture if there are different groups on the road.
29km to go: The riders are winding around the narrow roads as the bridge, which has dominated all the talk of how this stage may pan out, draws ever closer. Ineos, Jumbo-Visma and Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl are among the teams up at the front.
As David Millar just said on ITV4, while all the hype has been about the bridge, there is a chance the peloton ‘might slightly neutralise’ when they hit it.
31km to go: The catch is made. The peloton rumbles past Bystrom, who is on the left of the road. The pace in the bunch leaps up momentarily, then it all seems to calm down again.
36km to go: Bystrom, the 30-year-old who was born in Haugesund, Norway, continues his charge at the front. But the gap is down to 15”. There is definitely a sense of a calm before the storm. Who is going to make a move on the bridge? Maybe everyone is. We will definitely see attacks. Will some teams and riders gain time? Will some of them be out of contention in under an hour?
38km to go: After another 17km, the riders will hit the bridge. There is a crash in the bunch, a couple of riders are down, but I think everyone is OK. Krists Neilands (Israel–Premier Tech) was one of them. He’s back on his bike.
40km to go: Some fan artwork in tribute to the late Chris Anker Sørensen – a legend in these parts.
Bystrom pushes on. He has 28”. He’s asking the question, anyway … if there was a big crash he would be in pole position for the stage win.
43km to go: Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) has a puncture and a teammate waits for him while he gets a wheel change. The peloton is winding through some very picturesque villages. There are plenty of fans, but not nearly as many as there were on those three climbs earlier in the day. The gap is 25”.
45km to go: Bystrom has 32”. Team Ineos, led at the moment by Tom Pidcock, can be seen up at the front on the left-hand side of the road.
49km to go: The average speed overall is 43.7km so far today. Which is high, especially considering the wind speed.
From the end of the bridge to the end of the stage, there is just 3km, so we are definitely going to see action when the peloton is coming across it.
51km to go: The gap is down to 41”. Is it time to make the catch? The bunch is speeding on the tarmac through a flat, grassy area as they get closer to the infamous bridge. The flags at roadside are fluttering significantly.
52km to go: Bystrom powers on alone up front. The gap is 52”. This is a huge ride from the Norwegian.
Meanwhile …
“Afternoon Luke, My “Denmark Anecdote” for what it’s worth is that I’ve got a mate who lives in Copenhagen … apart from that Jon Dahl Tomasson used to play for the Toon (before AC Milan). Like I said “for what it’s worth”. Em, Newcastle.”
Lovely stuff.
57km to go: Bystrom is now out in front on his own, and he has a gap which has flown out to 54”. It appears that the peloton suddenly decided they didn’t want to make the catch too early? Anyway, Cort has been swallowed up by the bunch.
62km to go: A really good flavour of the atmosphere at the finish area in Nyborg, thanks to an email from Guy Dammann:
“I can happily confirm that here at the race finish in Nyborg staring down the windy bridge the roadside vibe is terrific, the crowds slamming the barriers with unbridled passion every time one of the amateur cycling groups who have permission to ride the route in advance breeze past.
“The curb-side is strewn with bicycles of all kinds, from fancy racers to cargo bikes. The audio is a mixture of French commentary and Taylor Swift songs and the visuals are dominated by freebie caps advertising brands like Leclerc which mean little to most here. The really cool people are pushing brands like Mercier and Gan which are really only remembered for their connection with great tour teams of the past. The sun is beating down but the only sun lotion in view seems to be the froth on the copious amounts of Tuborg and Carlsberg. Someone mentioned Roskilde as being the biggest festival in Northern Europe but I think they’ll find right now it’s the Tour de France. Anyway as the gap closes and the peloton draws nearer to the bridge I am going to head back into the mosh pit and catch the headline act which I believe is a bicycle race.”
Thanks for your email Guy, and enjoy the day.
61km to go: The gap between break and peloton has plunged to 13”. Cort and Bystrom’s days are numbered up at the front.
63km to go: All hands on deck for the sprinter’s teams and indeed the GC teams up at the front. The wind is blowing at about 29mph and gusting at more than that on the bridge. The peloton are into a headwind right now, but there is a sense that there is going to be danger from crosswinds all the way from here to the finish.
66km to go: Alejandro Valverde has apparently been hit by a car while training, and has been taken to hospital. Get well soon.
67km to go: Andre Souchon, who says he’s ‘on foot in Nyborg’, chips in: “The great belt bridge (which is coming up) is the world’s sixth-longest main span [suspension] bridge. And costs a fortune to cross, £29 without rebates.”
Thanks Andre. Yes, according to my research, you can get it down to about £21 using automatic payment via number plate recognition. Still pretty punchy.
The gap between Cort and Bystrom and the chasing bunch is 41”. Only a matter of time, but the peloton don’t really want to catch them too soon either.
73km to go: “If you find the two church towers in the skyline, this is the cathedral where nearly all Danish queens and kings are interred,” Michael Sorensen writes of Roskilde. “The Danish royal family has a straight line going back to around 1300, one of the oldest in the world.”
Meanwhile, looking ahead to the stage finish, a bit of history from Wiki:
“The March Across the Belts (Swedish: Tåget över Bält) was a military campaign waged by the Swedish Empire across the ice between the Danish islands. It lasted between 30 January and 15 February 1658, ending with a decisive victory for Swedish King Charles X Gustav during his first Danish war.”
74km to go: Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) wins the race for third place in the intermediate sprint, after Cort and Bystrom went through only about 30” earlier. The Australian didn’t even get out of third gear there.
75km to go: No, sorry that was wrong. The sprint point isn’t downhill. There was a green arch over the road, but the sprint point is a bit further on a stretch of flat, straight road, under a much bigger green arch.
76km to go: The gap is down to 55”. The peloton is fanned right across the road with a number of teams jostling for position. It’s going to be a super-fast sprint too, it’s downhill and on a slight jink in the road to the right.
78km to go: Intermediate sprint coming up … points to play for in view of there only being two men in the break. As a result, the heat is on at the front of the peloton. They are a little under 5km from the sprint point. The gap to the break is plunging and is down to 1’07”.
81km to go: “Hi Luke – are doing the name the breakaway this year?” asks JimD via Twitter.
Sure we are, Jim.
“If so, Cyril Barthe, Pierre Rolland, Sven Erik Bystrom and Magnus Cort are a troupe of circus tumblers roaming the pre-Revolutionary French countryside.”
For clarity, we only have Bystrom and Cort in the break now, I apologise for not checking my Twitter DMs more often.
83km to go: Judging by this picture which includes a windsock on one of the Great Belt bridges, the final is going to be very windy indeed, and very tasty indeed.
The gap is 1’59”.
87km to go: The gap is 2’19”. The riders up the road are:
Sven Erik Bystrom (Intermarché–Wanty–Gobert Matériaux)
Magnus Cort (EF Education–EasyPost)
90 km to go: Roskilde news!
“In Sweden Roskilde is by far most known for the annual rock/music festival with huge crowds sleeping (well, not much…) in tents, consuming alcohol and other substances whilst watching and listening to big bands and artists of today and yesterday,” emails Jonas Wedin.
“The Roskilde Festival is on right now celebrating its 50 year anniversary!” adds Mikkel Dyrting “It’s the biggest music festival in northern Europe.”
Lynge Lauritsen, however, bills it as follows: “The Roskilde Festival (which ends this weekend) is the second-largest music festival in Europe and the largest in Scandinavia.”
94km to go: Dan Lloyd, on commentary for Eurosport, observed a while back that the front two of Cort and Bystrom will push on in the hope that there will be some disruption in the crosswinds later. Chances are it’ll be a sprint finish, but anything could happen with these narrow roads and winds. Apparently Christian Prudhomme was quoted as saying he was hoping there would be drama of some sort, so it’s a deliberate thing by the race organisers to spice this stage up.
100km to go: We are past the halfway mark of stage 2, between Roskilde and Nyborg. The gap between break and peloton is 2’50”. It’s a two-man break: the previous escapees, Rolland and Barthe, have been swallowed up by the peloton.
I know almost nothing about Roskilde, although I can tell you that Faith No More definitely played there at some point in the 1990s, because I had a t-shirt with “The Real Thing” tour dates on it.
Anyone got any Roskilde anecdotes? Denmark anecdotes? Please, do get in touch on email or Twitter
104km to go: Home fans go wild for Magnus Cort, the king of the “mountains”.
106km to go: I should mention that Bystrom is from Norway, so with Cort, there’s a Dane and a Norwegian up the road. Entirely fitting for this Danish grand départ.
109km to go: Gary Naylor chips in regarding the narrow lanes and pinch points on these climbs. The all-stage TV coverage is part of it but I think it’s more the Team Sky/Ineos-ification of how teams ride GC. Everyone wants their rider or riders near the front, everyone is fighting for the same space on the road, far more so than in days gone by. And that makes it much more dangerous and stressful.
In days gone by, a patron would calm the peloton and ensure they got through pinch points and hazards @LukeMcLaughlin. I mean, you try arguing with Bernard Hinault.
All stage TV coverage has made the front of the race more desirable and, once one team goes, they all have to.
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) July 2, 2022
109km to go: The last remaining milestone on the route, if you don’t count that wind-lashed bridge, is the intermediate sprint, which arrives with 75.3km to go.
114km to go: I knew those names rang a bell.
116km to go: Absolute scenes.
117km to go: Cort dominates the two-man sprint for the final climb of the day. He celebrates as he takes it – he is three from three for the climbs today, he has mopped up the three available KOM points, and he will be in polka-dots tomorrow.
118km to go: Cort and Bystrom are on the third and final categorised climb, the Côte de Kårup Strandbakke. The two chasers are 56” back and the gap between break and peloton is 3’07”.
