Melier beats Milan by a tire in TDF stage 2
Philipsen crashes out, Evenepole hits the deck, mad chaos in final 10km.
A nap, then a detonation.
A 178km stage that put everyone to sleep until it exploded in the final 10 kilometers and shit hit the French fan.
Yes, a leisurely spin around Northern France turned into a chaotic, disastrous, sad, dramatic, inspiring, wonderful race into Dunkirk.
Especially sad: Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck). Things were getting spicy and elbow-hammering when Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) and Laurenz Rex (Intermarché-Wanty) banged shoulders. That aggressive shove sent Coquard careening left into the unsuspecting front wheel of Philipsen.
The Belgian, who’d won the opening stage and the yellow jersey — and who looked set to contest today’s sprint — suddenly slammed to the pavement. It was instantly apparent that his race was over and at minimum, his collarbone trashed. A huge blow for him his team and the Tour de France.
The race goes on sans Philipsen. Coquard managed to stay upright as did … It’s the nasty misfortune of the Tour that often the instigators go free and the innocent go to the hospital in an ambulance. If I’m assigning guilt, Coquard was slightly in front but both riders played rough.
The madness continued. After staying upfront and safe, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick-Step) drifted back into the pack. He was within the 5km safety zone — same finish time no matter what happens. Then something bad happened.
The man with finished third in the 2024 Tour — with hopes of a podium this year — went down. The video immediately suggested the worst — a DNF, an hors de combat. However, he was able to finish without the need to climb into the team car. After his failure of attention on stage one, a mistake that cost him 40 seconds, this was part two of How Not To Start Le Tour. If, as he said, Monday was “shit” then today was a darker shade of “merde.”
One man’s misfortune is another man’s joy. It was a chaotic and messy final kilometer. Lidl-Trek did an impressive job of positioning their top sprinter Jonathan Milan. When we last saw Milan he was wildly gesticulating with Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) about some transgression in yesterday’s sprint. He wasn’t happy then, he hoped to be in a much better mood a few hundred meters further into the city of Dunkirk.
The sprint was a battle between Milan and Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step). It was also a study in contrasts. As they both smashed the pedals in anger and desperation, the differences were visible and revealing.
Milan’s head bobbed up and down as he violently attacked his pedals. Right beside him. Merlier’s body moved side to side — not the perfect, aerodynamic position of prime Mark Cavendish but noticeably more smooth and aero-friendly than his rival. Perhaps that small stylistic difference was the deciding factor in a photo finish that showed Merlier winning by a fraction of a tire.
Another day in the Tour de France where even an easy day suddenly turns into high drama.