Key events
70km to go: The gap to the front two is down to 50 seconds. Koch and Biannic are pushing but are slowly getting sucked back towards the peloton.
75km to go: A reminder of who holds which jerseys at today’s stage. Vollering is actually wearing the green jersey today, with Vos in yellow and the second placed rider, Kim Le Court, opting to wear her national Mauritian jersey today.
79km to go: While we’re on the subject of EF Education–Oatly riders, just catching up on a little crash in the peloton involving Kristen Faulkner, the 2024 Olympic champion. It looks as though Faulkner is OK and back on her bike but has lost valuable time, around 40 seconds behind the peloton.
81km to go: Brest-born Cédrine Kerbaol, who finished sixth overall in last year’s race and won stage six, enjoyed a fine send off in her hometown at the start today. She is tucked just at the front of the peloton, alongside her EF Education–Oatly teammates. I wonder if she might be an outside bet for the GC standings this year if she can have a good day today.
Early breakaway!
88km to go: Franziska Koch was given the the combativity prize for attacking time and time again on stage one, and the German is at it again on day two! Koch and Aude Biannic are the two riders out in front, around 1min08secs ahead of the peleton.
Here’s what Koch had to say overnight, after the combative stage one. She is obviously fired up.
I was hoping to get into the break, but sometimes it takes 10 tries before the 11th one finally works. I’ll keep trying, and the good thing is that we have plenty of options in this team. The vibe is really positive.”
It’s worth flagging that this is a particularly early start for the riders, after a relatively late finish (6.38pm BST) yesterday. That is a tight turnaround, for the riders and the support staff to get their meals, massage and rest in, especially as the finish in Plumelec is over 200km from today’s start in Brest.
Stage two, though, is the second shortest stage of this year’s race, clocking in at 110km.
This is our report from the first stage. Vos made a point of praising her Visma Lease a bike teammate, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, who herself had made a late break for the finish, before being overhauled.
“I didn’t now if Pauline was still hanging [on] in the finish, but in the end I sprinted a bit with Kim,” Vos said after the hilly 78.8km route from Vannes. “I’m really grateful to the team and to Pauline,” she added.
Preamble
The riders begin today at the Tour’s most westerly point in Brest at the start of what is officially classed as a flat stage. But a ‘flat’ stage with three Cat. 4 climbs, plus another Cat. 3 climb thrown in for good measure, means this is not necessarily going to be a sprint finish. This is a stage for the puncheurs, the all-rounders, so it would not be a surprise to see someone like Marianne Vos finish strongly again here today – the 38-year-old rolled back the years on Saturday to win stage one and the yellow jersey.
Here are the GC standings after stage one:
1. Vos
2. Le Court + 4”
3. Ferrand-Prevot +6”
4. Niewiadoma +10”
5. Vollering +13”
6. Puck Pieterse +15”
7. Van der Breggen +15”
8. Jansen +19”
9. Pauliena Rooijakkers +19”
10. Pfeiffer Georgi +19”
There is a circuit of Quimper to finish today, with a slight uphill finish, we’ll have to see if there is a late attack, or if someone goes for it earlier, perhaps on one of the Cat. 4 climbs. Let’s see. It is an intriguing and exciting day in the saddle.
Roll out: 12.10pm BST