Fabio Jakobsen sprints to victory on stage two of the Tour de France

Fabio Jakobsen (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) sprinted to a maiden victory on stage two of the Tour de France in Nyborg to secure a big career win. Jakobsen and his Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl teammates timed their lead out to perfection to secure a huge win for the Dutch sprinter beating the likes of Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma).  

A huge crash hit the peloton in the final two kilometres but Quick-Step managed to position Jakobsen out of harm's way to ensure he would contest the sprint. Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) took second place ahead of Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) and 10 bonus seconds to take over the lead in the general classification. 

Jakobsen's teammates Yves Lampaert and Michael Mørkøv were both involved in a crash on the bridge but buried themselves to get back to the peloton ready to support their teammate. 

After the race passed 1 kilometre to go and a large group of riders hit the tarmac, Stuyven and Lampaert began to lead out both of their sprinters but there would be no stopping Jakobsen. 23 months after his horror crash, the Dutch sprinter powered past Van Aert and Pedersen in the final surge for the line to take a first ever Tour de France victory.   

Despite the late crash, the top 10 on the overall classification was largely unaffected leaving Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) in touch of the overall lead. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

The 199 km long stage got underway in Roskilde and due to the expected windy finale, ‘echelons’ and ‘crosswinds’ were the buzzwords of the morning. It was widely expected that the 18 kilometre long Great Belt Bridge near the finish would have a big part to play in proceedings but would it disrupt a likely sprint finish? 

As soon as the flag dropped and the race was underway, Magnus Cort Nielsen (EF Education-Easypost) attacked. The Danish rider was joined by duo Pierre Rolland and Cyril Barthe  (B & B Hotels-KTM) and Sven Erik Bystrom (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert). The peloton appeared to be content to let the four riders go, so the breakaway formed and quickly built a small gap. Wind was already howling along the course and Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl had race leader, Yves Lampaert, surrounded. 

As the race snaked along the beautiful Danish coast, the fans were jam packed along the roadside. It was well and truly party time in Denmark. 

At 20 km from the day’s first categorised climb, the fourth-category Côte d'Asnæs Indelukke, the four riders in the breakaway were at 1-45 and showed no signs of relenting. The first King of the Mountain point was up for grabs and Rolland (B & B Hotels-KTM) was doing everything he could to take it. In the end there would be no stopping Cort (EF Education-EasyPost) who comfortably won the sprint for the solitary point. Cort and Bystrøm (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) went straight over the top and left the B & B riders behind. 

Cort would clean up at both of the following two climbs, meaning he would pull on the polka-dot jersey at the end of the day. The gap was at 3-02 and rising. Following on from their earlier mistake on the first climb, Barthe and Rolland were soon reeled back in by the peloton. 

At the halfway point the wind was picking up and Cort and Bystrøm still led the race by three minutes. 86 kilometres to go and with an eye on the finale in Nyborg, Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, BikeExchange-Jayco and Jumbo-Visma began to eat into the gap to reduce it to 2-15. 

At 78 km the peloton were ramping up the pace and Cort and Bystrøm's lead was rapidly fading. The intermediate sprint was imminent and Fabio Jakobsen (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl), Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) were ready to do battle. Cort and Bystrøm sailed over the intermediate sprint whilst Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) took third in the race’s first fight between the main sprinters.

At 62 km as the race pushed on, Bystrøm put in a small attack and soon left Cort behind. The EF Education-EasyPost rider would be caught by the peloton and Bystrøm would be left ahead for a little while longer. At 43 km to go, there would be a nightmare for Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) who suffered a puncture but would soon be back chasing. 

Ineos Grenadiers and TotalEnergies were locked onto the front of the peloton as the race was rapidly approaching the Great Belt Bridge. Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) would make it back into the peloton in good time ready for the widely-expected carnage to come. At 31 km Jumbo-Visma, Ineos and Lotto Soudal were all wrestling for position wanting to ensure their riders were well positioned once the race was onto the bridge. Lotto with an eye on a stage win for Ewan, the others looking to protect their interests in the overall classification.

Eventually Bystrøm (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) would be caught and at 26 km to go, Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) and Ruben Guerreiro (EF Education-EasyPost) were involved in an altercation caught by the television cameras. An incident which the race commissaires would certainly investigate. Amongst the stress in the peloton two riders were on the floor at 21 km to go, Rigoberto Urán (EF Education-EasyPost) and Kevin Vermaeke (Team DSM) and the race was beginning to split. 

Onto the bridge and there would be another crash, this time involving the yellow jersey, Yves Lampaert (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl), as well as Lampaert’s teammate and key leadout man for Fabio Jakobsen, Michael Mørkøv. Both riders would eventually make it back ready to support Jakobsen. At 10 km to go, Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) was burying himself to try and get his team leader back into the peloton. Thanks to the hard work of the EF riders, the majority of the big names hit by the crashes would make it back into the main field.

All the sprinters teams were getting ready for the finish and the pace was picking up in the peloton. Lotto Soudal and BikeExchange-Jayco were getting their leadout men ready and the stress levels were rising. At 3 kilometres to, they were off the bridge and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. However swiftly after a huge crash occurred in the peloton wiping out multiple riders. 

Under the 1 km to go banner and the sprinters began their lead outs. Lampaert was straight onto the front of the peloton with Jakobsen on his wheel (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl). Meanwhile Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) was battling with his fellow Belgian in order to position Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo). Jakobsen opened up his sprint along with Pedersen and Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and had just enough power to beat his rivals to secure a big win for his team and a first career Tour de France stage win.

RESULTS

TOUR DE FRANCE 2022, STAGE TWO: ROSKILDE TO NYBORG (199KM) 

1. Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, in 4-34-34
2. Wout Van Aert (Bel) Jumbo-Visma
3. Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
4. Danny van Poppel (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe
5. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck
6. Peter Sagan (Slo) TotalEnergies
7. Jérémy Lecroq (Fra) B & B Hotels-KTM
8. Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) BikeExchange-Jayco
9. Luca Mozzato (Ita) B & Hotels-KTM
10. Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Arkea-Samsic all same time

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE TWO

1. Wout Van Aert (Bel) Jumbo-Visma, in 04-49-50
2. Yves Lampaert (Bel) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, at 1s
3. Tadej Pogačar (Svn) UAE Team Emirates, at 8s
4. Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers, at 11s
5. Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo, at 12s
6. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Deceuninck, at 14s
7. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Jumbo-Visma, at 16s
8. Primož Roglič (Svn) Jumbo-Visma, at 17s
9. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo, at 18s
10. Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain-Victorious, at 21s