Tour de France: Victor Lafay wins stage two as Adam Yates retains yellow jersey

Victor Lafay celebrates after winning stage two of the Tour de France

Frenchman Victor Lafay produced a brilliantly timed attack to win the second stage of the Tour de France.

Belgium’s Wout van Aert had appeared perfectly placed to take the 208.9km stage, which ended in San Sebastian.

But Lafay burst clear with 900m to go and Van Aert was left banging his handlebars in frustration after being unable to reel him in.

Britain’s Adam Yates retained the leader’s yellow jersey, with his twin brother Simon in joint-second place.

Simon is six seconds back, along with Adam’s UAE team-mate and two-time winner Tadej Pogacar.

Sunday was a day that saw Pogacar claim valuable bonus seconds over his rivals in the general classification by being first to the summit of Jaizkibel, the final climb of the day.

That was where the stage, the longest of this year’s Tour, burst into life, with Pogacar beating last year’s champion Jonas Vingegaard in a sprint to the top.

The pair did not attempt to stay clear on the descent, and it appeared Van Aert would be led out to a sprint finish by his Jumbo Visma team-mates.

They held off a series of attacks, including one by Britain’s Tom Pidcock, but Lafay’s late surge took him clear and he had the power to hold off Van Aert and cross the line.

Pogacar picked up more bonus seconds by finishing third, with Pidcock fourth.

“It was a really hectic day, a lot of stress in the bunch,” Adam Yates said afterwards. “Wet roads, roundabouts, road furniture, but we made it through with a little bit of bad luck as Matteo (Trentin) crashed on a corner.

“But for us it was a good race, we controlled it all day. Nobody wanted to help us. Then in the final we tried to set it up for Tadej to get the bonus seconds so we did a good job.

“If Tadej had won the bonuses and the stage he could have (taken yellow) but we kept it as a team, so it’s job done.”

Lafay’s win was his first at the Tour de France and the first success by his French team Cofidis at their home race since 2008.

“In the last metres, I looked down at my computer, I saw 500 metres (to go), 400 metres,” said 27-year-old Lafay, who added to his Giro d’Italia stage win from 2021. “I said to myself I will inevitably be caught at 50 metres. It’s sick.”

After two days in the mountainous Basque Country, the race leaves Spain and heads for France for Monday’s third stage, a 187.54km route from Amorebieta-Etxano to Bayonne.

It promises to be the first stage of this year’s Tour that gives Mark Cavendish a realistic chance of victory as he chases a 35th Tour stage win, which would give him the all-time record over the legendary Eddy Merckx.