Mathieu van der Poel took a perfectly timed stage victory in Boulogne-sur-Mer on stage 2 of the Tour de France, delivering a commanding uphill sprint to claim his second career Tour win and take over the race lead from teammate Jasper Philipsen.
The longest day of the 2025 Tour, at 209km from Lauwin-Planque to the Channel coast, turned into a high-stress mini-Classics battle. In slippery, windy conditions and over a succession of late, punchy climbs, the Dutchman outkicked GC rivals Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard at the top of the final rise to seal Alpecin-Deceuninck’s second consecutive win.
“It was super difficult, the final was harder than I thought,” said Van der Poel after the finish. “It’s been four years since my last stage win here, and it was about time I got another one. I’m really proud.”
The 2021 stage 2 winner returned to the top step of the podium with a tactically sharp and physically dominant ride, using his Classics experience to thrive on a parcours tailored to his strengths. “We’re used to this kind of racing,” he explained. “It was nervous all day, a constant fight for position. I knew what I wanted to do in the last kilometre, and it all came together.”
A punchy finale lights up a routine stage
For much of the day, the peloton rolled through northern France under grey skies, with a four-man break of Bruno Armirail, Brent van Moer, Andreas Leknessund and Yevgeniy Fedorov gaining just over three minutes. The action began in earnest only in the final 30km, as teams jostled for position ahead of the trio of finishing climbs.
The Côte du Haut Pichot began to splinter the peloton, and by the time they hit the Côte de Saint-Étienne-au-Mont, Visma-Lease a Bike and UAE Team Emirates-XRG had both moved into position. Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar stayed prominent, while Alpecin-Deceuninck remained quietly confident.
The Côte d’Outreau brought even more chaos, with a series of accelerations: Kevin Vauquelin went first, joined by Matteo Jorgenson and Alexey Lutsenko, then Florian Lipowitz made a desperate final-kilometre move before being reeled in.
Julian Alaphilippe, reviving echoes of 2019, lit up the home stretch with a bold surge, trying to deliver Marc Hirschi to the line. But the move only ended up slingshotting Van der Poel into perfect position.
“I knew if I could lead through that final corner, I had a shot,” Van der Poel said. “It was only 150 metres to go, and I went all in.”
Pogačar followed, and while he edged closer with every pedal stroke, the line came too soon. “It had everything – rain, stress, danger, short climbs – just like a Classic,” Pogačar said. “Mathieu was stronger at the finish. Chapeau.”
Photo Credit: A.S.O./Billy CeustersGC battle simmers with bonus seconds
With Philipsen distanced on the final climbs, Van der Poel inherits the yellow jersey, four seconds ahead of Pogačar, with Vingegaard two seconds further back in third. João Almeida’s work for UAE helped set up the finale, and the Portuguese rider admitted frustration at being unable to do more.
“It was super-chaotic,” Almeida said. “At one point I got boxed in because the road was full of people and riders. I could have done more.”
Despite missing the stage win, Pogačar moved into the King of the Mountains jersey thanks to points on two of the climbs. “Tomorrow will be just my second ever day in polka dots,” he smiled. “I’m looking forward to it – people love this jersey.”
UAE sports director Andrej Hauptmann was satisfied with the day’s work. “We stayed safe, we were present. The goal was not to lose time, and we even gained a little,” he told Cyclingnews.
Vingegaard surprises with sprinting legs
Vingegaard looked sharp in his most Classics-style test yet this Tour, following moves and even launching one of his own with 5km to go. “This result was better than I expected,” he said. “I wouldn’t have predicted I’d be sprinting for the win on a stage like this.”
Visma head of racing Grischa Niermann praised the team’s aggression. “We wanted to make the race hard. Jonas showed he’s in great shape. Wout van Aert didn’t have the legs for the sprint but worked well to get Jonas into position.”
Alaphilippe excites French fans
For a few moments inside the final 500 metres, Julian Alaphilippe had the Boulogne-sur-Mer crowd dreaming. The Frenchman’s late push evoked memories of his 2019 Tour magic. He eventually finished fifth, just behind Jorgenson, but was encouraged by his return to form.
“If you compare to yesterday, today was already better,” said Alaphilippe. “I wanted to help Marc [Hirschi], but in the end, I basically led out Mathieu.”
Tudor Pro Cycling impressed again, with Trentin and Mayrhofer already delivering top-10s on stage 1. “We’ll have bad days, but we’ve shown we belong here,” said DS Matteo Tosatto.
A different Van der Poel, a different Tour
Van der Poel credited a fresh approach for his success, mirroring his Spring Classics preparation with altitude training and a Criterium du Dauphiné warm-up. “We tried to copy how we do the Classics,” he said. “It worked. This parcours suits me.”
Asked if this would change his outlook on the Tour, Van der Poel was honest. “Not really. It’s still a hard race to win anything in. But this start is perfect for us. Two stage wins in two days, and we’ve got the yellow jersey.”
The Tour stays in northern France for stage 3 from Valenciennes to Dunkerque – likely a sprinter’s day, though the forecast suggests more wind and rain may yet complicate matters.
2025 Tour de France Stage 2 result
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Main photo credit: a.s.o./charly lopez
