2025 Tour de France Stage 2 Report: Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) won the second stage of the 2025 Tour de France in Boulogne-sur-Mer. He was the best in an uphill sprint in a difficult finale with several short, steep climbs. He got the better of GC men; Tadej Pogačar (UAE Emirates XRG) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike). Van der Poel’s teammate, Jasper Philipsen, was distanced and lost his yellow jersey after one day, it stays with the team on the shoulders of VdP.
The last kilometre of stage 2
Race director, Christian Prudhomme: “There’s good reason to think that the Yellow Jersey could find a new owner in Boulogne-sur-Mer, where the first of the 2025 Tour’s punchy finishes will take place. The hills in the Artois and Boulonnais regions will already have taken a physical toll on the riders by the time they tackle two tough tests on the coast, at Saint-Étienne-au-Mont where there are gradients of 15%, and then at Outreau, just over five kilometres from the finish line. After that, there’s still a demanding kilometre-long ramp where the final verdict will be decided.”
Stage 2 profile
After Jasper Philipsen’s success on day 1, Mathieu Van der Poel ruled an animated stage 2 to continue with Alpecin-Deceuninck’s dream start in the 2025 Tour de France. The Flying Dutchman mastered an explosive finale in Boulogne-sur-Mer to get the better of Tadej Pogačar (UAE Emirates XRG) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike). He also took the Maillot Jaune, just like he did in 2021 when he won stage 2 in Mûr-de-Bretagne. Philipsen lost 31 seconds on the day. But he’ll have another chance to win on day 3, as the sprinters eye victory on a mostly flat stage towards Dunkirk.
Jasper Philipsen looks good in yellow, but for how long?
The 182-man peloton gathered in Lauwin-Planque for a rainy start to stage 2. Yevgeniy Fedorov (XDS-Astana) broke away from the peloton in the first kilometre, quickly followed by Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X), Brent Van Moer (Lotto) and Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-AG2R).
It was a cold and wet early break
Their break is momentarily disrupted by a crash at km 44, bringing down the Norwegian and Kazakh national champions, but this had no impact on the race as the quartet reformed and builds up a 3:05 lead (km 45). However, their progress is closely monitored by the riders from Intermarché-Wanty and Alpecin-Deceuninck.
The weather cleared up for the rainbow
After an intense battle, Leknessund took the first KOM point of the day, up Côte de Cavon-Saint-Martin (cat. 4, summit at km 104.3). The four men worked well together but the peloton accelerated into the last 90 kilometres. The gap dropped to less than a minute with 65 kilometres to go.
Alpecin-Deceuninck were woking for yellow and stage
The pace was hard in the bunch, but the attackers resisted until the intermediate sprint. Fedorov took the 20 points while Jonathan Milan hit 80 km/h to narrowly edge Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step), Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in the bunch. The break was then caught with 52km to go.
The intensity picked up again as the riders got close to the final climbs of the day. Wout Van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) set the pace at the bottom of the Côte du Haut Pichot. Then Tim Wellens (UAE Emirates XRG) upped the ante and the peloton exploded.
Win and yellow for Van der Poel
Onto the Côte d’Outreau, Jhonatan Narvaez (UAE Emirates XRG) set a strong pace before Kevin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) accelerated at the summit. A flurry of attacks ensue, but Mathieu van der Poel controls things and eventually unleashed a dominant sprint.
Just like in 2021, the Flying Dutchman won stage 2 of the Tour and took the Maillot Jaune, as his teammate Jasper Philipsen crossed the line with a gap of 31 seconds.
A more than happy Mathieu
Stage winner and overall leader, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck): “It was super difficult, the finale was harder than I thought. But I was really motivated. Finally, four years after my first win, it was about time I took a second one! It’s also the second time I’m rewarded with the yellow jersey as well so I guess it was worth the wait! Of course, people put me as a favourite but when you see which riders were at the front on the climbs, I think I did a really good job. The team told me to study the last 500 metres. We had a video of the finish and I watched it a few times. I already had in mind what I wanted to do if it came down to a sprint but when you see who comes 2nd [Tadej Pogacar] and 3rd [Jonas Vingegaard], that says enough about how hard it was. I didn’t dare to raise my hands before the finish line but it’s an incredible moment. They predicted headwind on the final climb so I thought Jasper would have a chance but the climbs were harder than we expected and the pace was super hard. At the top of the second last climb, we were only 8 riders at the front. It’s a dream for the team. Everything else that comes now is just a bonus. I hope I can keep the jersey until the time trial, then it will be very hard to keep it. Just winning a stage was the goal for me and I’m very very happy to have achieved it.”
Monday’s stage 3 – A day for the sprinters
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Tour de France Stage 2 Result:
1. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Deceuninck in 4:45:41
2. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Emirates XRG
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma | Lease a Bike
4. Romain Gregoire (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
5. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Tudor
6. Oscar Onley (GB) Team Picnic PostNL
7. Aurélien Paret-Peintre (Fra) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale
8. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels
9. Simone Velasco (Ita) XDS Astana
10. Jenno Berckmoes (Bel) Lotto.
Tour de France Overall After Stage 2:
1. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Deceuninck in 8:38:42
2. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Emirates XRG at 0:04
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma | Lease a Bike at 0:06
4. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels at 0:10
5. Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Visma | Lease a Bike
6. Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Movistar
7. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck at 31
8. Joseph Blackmore (GB) Israel-Premier Tech at 41
9. Tobias Halland (Nor) Johannessen Uno-X Mobility
10. Ben O’Connor (Aus) Jayco AlUla.
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