Powless powers clear of Boasson Hagen as the summit approaches.
A nasty crash in the peloton – as the road bottlenecked next to a roundabout – with a couple of Lotto riders down and Vingegaard suffering a puncture. Everyone is back on their bikes thankfully though that was a worrying moment.
38km to go and the lead duo are approaching the foot of the Cote de Gurutze. After the climb – 2.6km at 4.7% – there’s a short descent, a flat section as we kiss the border with France and a big u-turn along the coast as they turn back towards the day’s big climb, the Alto de Jaizkibel, and the run in to San Sebastian.
“All in,” EF-Education tell Neilson Powless. “All the cards are on the table.” He and Boasson Hagen have two minutes but, given the UAE approach behind, surely it’s a forlorn effort.
Plenty of discussion about UAE’s tactics today: they’ve kept the pressure on all day at the front. Needlessly?
50km to go. The gap is stable for now at just over two minutes.
Matteo Trentin, who has spent a good chunk of the day organising the UAW effort on the front of the peloton, looks like he has taken a tumble. He’s a bit scuffed up and needs a new bike. His teammate Bjerg, who has borne the brunt of Trentin’s organisational exhortations today, continues with the hammer down at the front.
The lead pair still have two minutes as they reach the bottom of the hill and zip through the town of Villabona. And the peloton are safely down too – strung out a little along the road, but safely down nevertheless. The heat just comes out of the chase a touch, deep breaths all round.
What goes up … The lead pair, Powless on the front, head down the descent, with the roads seemingly a little drier further down the hill. Hey, it’s Race Radio! “Now’s the moment,” EF-Education tells Neilson Powless.
Enda emails with a thought on Alex Whitney’s question about training for descents: “From what I’ve seen or heard there’s no single answer to this question. I think outside of training camps riders often ride the single lane of wider roads, maybe also sending someone ahead and keeping someone back to watch for traffic. Unfortunately there have been accidents with traffic in the past. Domenicio Pozzovivo’s career was nearly ended by a collision with a driver some years ago and I think it was at the bottom of a descent.
“When it comes to the narrower roads I believe that team training camps often seek out remote locations at high altitude so perhaps it’s also easier to close the roads for half an hour in these places. I mean, I grew up in Ireland where traffic often has to give way for cattle crossing or a road bowling meet … maybe WT teams just put a man in a flat-cap at the bottom of the hill telling you you have to wait for 20 mins.”
Powless (“More Powful than Powless,” suggests Lizz Poulter on email) and Boasson Hagen approach the summit through a narrowing corridor of Basque flags. If the fans are like this out here what are they going to be like on Jaizkibel? It should be something to see.
70km to go. And 1.7km to the summit of this climb. The gap is down to two minutes, as Powless and Boasson Hagen continue up front.
Half a dozen riders are briefly delayed as Lutsenko comes off and a couple of Ineos riders tumble into him. It was slow speed and pretty much everyone stayed on their feet, so all seems fine.
Up we go! The Côte d’Alkiza is too much for Remi Cavagna, who leaves Boasson Hagen and Powless as a breakaway pair.
“Morning from Turks and Caicos,” writes Joanna Gray. “Not sure quite what the race radio part has given to the coverage. Yesterday I only saw the bit where they said Soler was coming back with water bottles. Surely teams won’t release their inner tactics?? Thoughts?”
Hmm. It’s obviously something that works really well in F1 and provides some of the best bits of the coverage during grand prix. They’ve not quite nailed it so far on the Tour, today and yesterday at least. Ineos’s Steve Cummings telling his team it was a “high fuelling” moment a bit ago was only really instructive to fans of inner-team jargon. And the commentators haven’t quite learned to back off when the little logo comes up. Perhaps it’s just teething problems and we’ll get some great insights later in the race. We shall see.
“Could you chaps please coordinate so the climax of this stage and the cricket don’t coincide?” pleads Paul Griffin. We’re probably 90 minutes or so from the finish here. Meanwhile at Lord’s …
The rain has intensified with the Côte d’Alkiza imminent and the lead trio navigating the fan-lined streets of Toloso. Watch out for slippery road markings.
78km to go. The gap has come down to 2min 35sec.
Mark Cavendish is one of the riders off the back. Was never going to be his day today in any case – he’s got a couple of big days ahead of him over the next couple of stages. This climb has put quite a few under pressure, despite not being categorised.
Coming out of the feed zone we have a bit of a split at the rear of the peloton. Could be more “comfort break” chicanery, could be a few sprinters losing touch.
Mikkel Bjerg sits on the front of the peloton for UAE as they power up an uncategorised climb. The gap is three and a half minutes. I think we’ll see that come down over the next two climbs the category three Côte d’Alkiza and category four Côte de Gurutze, and it’ll be 90 seconds or so when we reach the final climb of the day. Then … who knows?
It’s pretty wet out there now, as the leaders wind there way over the lumps and bumps of the Basque countryside, stitching together picturesque little villages, gorgeous green rolling countryside and looming tree-covered hills. The fans are out in force, though, despite the weather, those green, red and white flags flying high.
Under 100km remaining. A large dog just bounded onto the road behind the lead three, seemingly intent on attacking the large red Skoda following the riders. It bounds off again, unharmed. Hopefully the owner can get a hold of things before the main group come past.
104.5km to go. We’re at the halfway point of the stage, so a quick summary (and it’ll be very quick, if you’re just joining us you’ve not missed a huge amount):
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We have a breakaway trio of three: the veteran Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen, 2021 San Sebastian Classic winner Neilson Powless and France’s time-trial specialist Rémi Cavagna. They have just over four minutes on the peloton.
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Powless has taken full mountain points over the two catergorised climbs so far. We have three more to go, including the (likely pivotal) Jaizkibel, 16km before the finish.
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Boasson Hagen won the intermediate sprint – while Jasper Philipsen put down a marker by leading the peloton over the line.
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Having a pee during the Tour de France is an involved process.
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The Basque Country is stunning and we should all go there on holiday.
Here’s Alex Whitney: “Watching Powless & co. descend after that last Cat 3 summit, I got to wondering about how riders can practice descending. Roads are closed off for any race, but they can practice climbing all they want while training … how do they practice descending, which requires full-width of road access?”
Good question, and one I don’t know the answer to. I wonder if it’s something you can develop “on the job”, as it were?
The lead three are up the Cote d’Aztiria, the short cat four climb that completes the little one-two punch of hills early doors.
The peloton summit the Col, UAE still doing the work on the front. The gap has been brought down to three and a half minutes as a result.
To absolutely no one’s surprise Neilson Powless crests the Col d’Udana first to hoover up a few points in the mountains competition.
Meanwhile, here’s Robin Lynch: “I know I am in the minority on this but for me the great things about sprints and races like Milan-Sanremo is that you are guaranteed an exciting finish so you can enjoy the first six hours listening to Alberto Contador talking toilet tactics and Sean Kelly counting his fish-and-chippers, with the excitement and anticipation building all the time to the grand finale.
“In contrast, how many hyped-up mountain stages do we watch every year with GC contenders just marking each other and then rolling over the line together? Yesterday’s stage was too attritional in my view – slow grind taking out all the sport’s great entertainers so just the big two GC beasts left and when Yates and Yates got away we didn’t even get a proper fight for the line. Hoping for better fireworks today.”
Yeah, I think that’s a valid view too. That’s part of the beauty of the Grand Tours isn’t it? Despite expectations, you can have thrilling sprint stages and dull mountain stages, days that look like going one way and end up going completely the other.
UAE are on the front of the peloton, tempo-ing the yellow jersey Adam Yates (and Tadej Pogacar) up the hill.
3.5km to the summit for the lead three and the gap has remained steady at a touch under five minutes.
All quiet and low key in the Tour so far but things are kicking off a bit at Lord’s …
The road just begins to slope up a touch as the front three close in on the first categorised climb of the day – the category three Col d’Udana, a fairly gentle* average gradient of 5.1% for 4.6km.
*“Gentle” in the grand scheme of things obviously. You’d get a pretty heavy dab on if you were popping out for a pint of milk and the shop was at the top.
The peloton heads through the crowded streets of Arrasate. The gap has crept very steadily up to nearly five minutes.
An email! “A mass sprint is very exciting to watch, and the level of skills, nerve, and determination to succeed in one is above and beyond my imaginings,” writes David Alderton. “However, if you look at something like Milan-Sanremo the preceding six and a half hours of racing aren’t terribly interesting. I think for many GC teams, the sprinters’ stages are a damage limitation and ‘don’t crash’ like the individual time trials, and bar a contender going the wrong way around the roundabout, missing the front echelon in the cross winds and binning off chances of a podium (as a random and not at all specific example), not a lot happens in the GC race. The exception is of course the final stage in Paris. that gets a pass. Because of that, this is the most fun first two stages of a Tour for a while. For me, anyway.”
The riders have just begun the long descent into the valley around Arrasate. It’s a little bit drizzly but hopefully not wet enough to cause any major problems. Fingers crossed. The lead trio have 4min 27sec on the bunch.
This is definitely one of those stages where you can see exactly why towns and villages want the Tour to come through – some of the vistas are stunning and the Basque countryside is looking lush and inviting. I’ve been to San Sebastian – one of my favourite places in the world – but never further afield into the region: an hour into this stage and I’ve just quietly googled “Basque camper van rental” …
And speaking of sprinters, Edvald Boasson Hagen has crossed the line first at the intermediate sprint. Jasper Philipsen bags some handy green jersey points – and gives himself a decent confidence boost – at the head of the peloton, outgunning Sam Welsford, Bryan Coquard, Biniam Girmay, Mads Pedersen, Mark Cavendish and Dylan Groenewegen in the process.
A tweet (remember those?)
It’s definitely feels a bit different for the Tour. Though it does mean I’m actually looking forward to the first sprinters’ stage tomorrow.
With the gap out to over four minutes, Powless is the virtual maillot jaune.
Alberto Contador, doing a bit of punditry on a motorbike behind the peloton, has just launched into a detailed analysis of the process of “comfort breaks”. Or “nature breaks” if you prefer. And to the rest of us, less euphemistically, as “going for a wee”. Seems a bit early in the stage to me – “Why didn’t you go before we set off? I TOLD you not to have that second coffee …” – but it is an involved process when you’re essentially in a skin-tight onesie.
Powless, Boasson Hagen and Cavagna have just over three minutes on the pack and things have properly quietened down.
An email: “Yesterday’s final 15km were absolutely brilliant,” writes William Preston. “The Yates Duo (sounds like a neo-jazz band) got an absolute stomp on over the flat and worked brilliantly. I love it when thrilling heroics wins a stage. I hope we see similar today, a lone raider over the top of the final climb; opportunism is what adds style, panache, and daring to the race menu.”
Yes, interesting to see how things develop from here. Boasson Hagen will presumably look to take the sprint points shortly, Powless will look to hoover up the mountain points on the category three and four climbs ahead, and Cavagna – whose strongest suit is time-trialling – is the wild card. I’d suggest the bunch likely comes back together just before the Jaizkibel and we get a few fireworks there.
Rémi Cavagna joins that pair up the road and briefly that seems to be that … before another trio burst from the group like a cork shooting out of a bottle of Champagne. Or perhaps, as we’re in the Basque Country, a bottle of Txakoli. The peloton, though, isn’t happy to allow those three to go and shut things down PDQ.
Edvald Boasson Hagen, the veteran Norwegian, and Neilson Powless get a bit of distance. Powless is in the polka dots after yesterday and won the San Sebastian Classic over these roads in 2021.
Five get briefly away, and chasers are scattered around the road. The big beasts in the peloton aren’t happy though, and they get the hammer down to bring it back together.
Off we go! The yellow flag is waved and the race is ON.
A bit of overnight news: EF Education-Easypost’s Richard Carapaz, the 2019 Giro winner, is a non-starter after his crash yesterday, joining Enrico Mas as a big-name early withdrawal.
When it comes to attending live sport (or music or most other things) I’m very much a put-your-damn-phone-away-and-just-enjoy-the-moment grumbler. But this footage of Mark Cavendish from stage one still brings a smile to my face:
The start today is at 11.15am BST with the stage proper kicking off at 11.25am. It’s basically flat for the first hour – up to the sprint point – then things start going a little more up and down …
Hello all and welcome to live coverage of stage two of the 2023 Tour de France, the second part of this fascinating Basque one-two punch with which this year’s race begins and the longest stage of the 2023 Tour.
It’s another intriguing stage, with a course profile not dissimilar to a one-day race. Five categorised climbs await, with the most fearsome the Alto de Jaizkibel 16km from the line.
So not a day for the sprinters – they’ll have their chance on stages three and four – and at this early point in the race it’d be a surprise if the peloton allow a breakaway to stay clear. Screams Wout van Aert or Julian Alaphilippe to me if things don’t get too feisty on the Jaizkibel but we shall see.
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July 02, 2023 at 05:01PM
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Tour de France 2023: stage two – live updates - The Guardian
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