Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) won the second stage of the Tour de France on a bicycle.

In the second of three rounds on Italian soil, it was once again the Frenchman who took the top spot on the podium after a truly impressive effort. With the peloton not interested in escaping, the men at the front were free to shine and out of the eleven cyclists, Vauquelin was the strongest. Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) took second place, ahead of Quentin Butcher (Grupama-FDJ) who closed the top three.

However, the long-awaited duel took place in the first 'round' on the second ascent of the Côle de San Luca, when Tadej Pogacar (UAE) decided to attack and was followed by none other than Jonas Vengegaard (Team Visma/Bike Rental). The two best players in the last four editions of the Tour have shown what they are capable of, and the overall results could not be more balanced. The Slovenian is the new yellow shirt, with Remco Evenpoel, Vengegard and Richard Carapaz at the same time.

Watch the video of Tadej Pogacar's attack:

This means that the reign of “Emperor” Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich PostNL team) lasted only one day, as the Frenchman now occupies fifth place in the overall standings, six seconds behind the new leader.

In the remaining jerseys, Jonas Abrahamsen now leads the points classification (green jersey) and the mountains classification (polka dot jersey), while in the youth category (white jersey), Remco Evenepoel has taken the lead.

This is followed by the third stage of the Tour de France, which will link Piacenza to Turin for a total distance of 230.8 kilometres and which could be the first bunch sprint of this edition.