Key eventsShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureCrash in the sprint!86km to go: Picking up speed now in the peloton, and the first sprint of the day at Dozza arrives, with the leaders escaping unhurt. Wout van Aert is all ripped up, Laurens de Plus of Ineos has taken half the road on his red jersey and shorts. Abrahamsen won the 20 sprint points and a couple of teams got chance to test out their formations but let’s see what happened to the walking wounded. Arnaud Demare who takes five points from the chasing pack.Ouch: Laurens De Plus of Belgium and Team INEOS Grenadiers injured during the crash. Photograph: Dario Belingheri/Getty ImagesShareUpdated at 15.26 CEST100km to go: The gap is closing after the peloton makes far shorter work of the second climb than the breakaway pack did.Not the Tour without Didi the Devil. Photograph: REX/ShutterstockShareUpdated at 15.01 CEST110km to go: Abrahamsen leads them up the hill, to maintain that polka dot lead. Big noise from the tifosi,Share111km to go: Not much respect shown for Bardet in yellow in that small climb. Guess he’s virtually out of yellow. The next climb approaches, and the peloton took off a couple of minutes off the breakaway. This climb is short but more brutal than the last one.Share118km to go: The answer is not much, but that was an antsy peloton that went for the line. There may be trouble ahead.Share125km to go: Here we go, a climb, the first of the day, all 2km of it, at a 7.5% incline. Jonas Abrahamsen, who began the day in polka dot, takes to the front with very little chasing going on, and takes the two points. What will that climb do to the peloton?Share130km to go: At least it’s not one of those soggy tours so far. Emilia-Romagna looks a beautiful spot, and on towards Imola they go, scene of the 2020 World Championships, as won by Julian Alaphilippe.Share140km to go: The gap gets larger so perhaps they will stay away. Matthews and Van Moer long along gave up their chase of that still 11-man unit. It’s still so early, and with so much to come.Share165km to go: The gap is up close to 5’ 30” at the front. How long will the break stay away? Not all day, at a rough estimateShare175km to go: The breakaway group is here, and they are speeding along, closing on a four-minute gap and have left Michael Matthews off the back, with Brent van Moer chasing: Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ), Axel Laurance (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Hugo Houle (Israel-Premier Tech), Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), Kevin Vauquelin and Cristian Rodriguez (both Arkea B&B Hotels), Mike Teunissen (Intermarche-Wanty), Bram Welten (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan), Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) and Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies).The peloton sitting back after Saturday’s shakeup, the cruelty of such a long chase over such tough terrain. Cavendish is off the back of the group but smiling.Share185km to go: It’s a hilly stage, nothing too daft but tough enough in the heat. The peloton is dropped back close to 1’ 30” at this point.⛰Les ascensions du jour : 3️⃣ Côte de Monticino, 2pts 3️⃣ Côte de Gallisterna, 2pts4️⃣ Côte de Botteghino di Zocca, 1pt 3️⃣ Côte de Montecalvo, 2pts3️⃣ Côte de San Luca, 2pts3️⃣ Côte de San Luca, 2pts🟰 jusqu’à 11 points à obtenir ⚪️🔴#TDF2024 pic.twitter.com/vWKMM5Cbdj— Maillot à Pois E.Leclerc (@maillotapois) June 30, 2024ShareUpdated at 12.53 CEST190km to go: It’s baking hot out there, and a series of attacks in the first 10 clicks has resulted in an 11-man breakaway. The main bunch, Bardet in yellow is dropping 20 seconds behind.ShareThe départ nears as the riders take their dummy run through Cesenatico. Huge crowd out there; Italy is such a cycling nation.ShareMark Cavendish seems chipper at the depart, saying he’s thankful for the blinds in the hotel and for the “incredible group of people around him”. He says “every metre you do is one less metre you have to do” and that Le Tour is about suffering. “If you have my body type, don’t start climbing now…I’m just hanging on by a thread as a sprinter and that’s by experience, really”.SharePreambleThe Tour is the Tour, even if Saturday’s stage resembled a rather difficult edition of the Giro. Especially for poor Mark Cavendish, who spent the day being hauled along feeling sick as a dog. It did provide a classic breakaway and an emotional winner in Romain Bardet. So, super Sunday, where we remain in Italy for 199km. And it’s going to be hilly, too.Per William Fotheringham.
Today’s start is dedicated to Marco Pantani, 20 years after his death; the “Pirate”, winner of the Tour and Giro in 1998, grew up in Cesenatico, which has a museum and a statue dedicated to him. Today won’t suit the sprinters, with two ascents of the San Luca climb in the final 32km. It’s a punchy ascent used in the Giro dell’Emilia, won in 2023 by Primoz Roglic, and it is perfect for Mathieu van der Poel.
If you’re reading this, then Pantani will be no stranger but still, his tale is one of the most evocative and sad in all of elite sport, a young man eaten up by fame and fortune.Share
Tour de France 2024: stage two – live | Tour de France 2024
