Tour de France: Stage 2 TTT

The Dutch outfit Jumbo-Visma followed up their win on stage 1 with victory won stage 2 as well keeping Mike Teunisse in Yellow – Thomas and Bernal fare best among the GC favourites

Tour de France: Stage 2 TTT

The Dutch outfit Jumbo-Visma followed up their win on stage 1 with victory won stage 2 as well as Mike Teunissen, Steven Kruijswijk, George Bennett, Wout van Aert and Tony Martin outclassed Team Ineos by twenty seconds so Teunissen retained the yellow jersey. They also maintained the long lived tradition of the Dutch TTT specialists since the very first team time trial of the Tour de France was won by the Dutch national team in Dieppe in 1955.

22 teams of 8 riders each took part in stage 2, a 27.6km long team time trial in and around Brussels, from the Royal Palace to the Atomium. Last in the teams classification after stage 1, Team Ineos got the ball rolling and set a reference time of 13’59’’ at Bois de la Cambre (km 13.2), 21’11’’ at Schaerbeek (km 20.1) and 29’18’’ on the finishing line at an average speed of 56.5km/h.

Even though David Gaudu slipped in the last curve, Thibaut Pinot’s Groupama-FDJ bettered Astana by nine seconds on the finishing line as Jakob Fuglsang didn’t suffer much after his spectacular crash the day before. The time of Katusha-Alpecin at the first check point came as a shock as Alex Dowsett dragged his team-mates to a faster time than Ineos (by 3’’). It was confirmed by the second one (by 2’’). But six seconds were missing on the finishing line for the Swiss-registered squad to beat the British outfit.

Last on the road, first at the end
Ineos was still leading after half of the teams completed the course. Sunweb equalled Katusha-Alpecin’s time 6’’ adrift. Deceuninck-Quick Step was close to dethrone the leaders but their fourth man wasn’t able to hold onto Julian Alaphilippe’s slipstream at the end. Eight tenth of a second were missing for the Belgian squad.

However, as soon as Jumbo-Visma hit the road, they were clearly one class above all other stage contenders. They were ahead at all time checks and clocked a faster time than Ineos by twenty seconds. It’s the first time since 2001 (Stuart O’Grady’s Crédit Agricole) that a yellow jersey holder wins the team time trial. Teunissen is the first Dutchman to wear the yellow jersey for two days in a row since Teun van Vliet in 1988. Panasonic was the last Dutch team to win the team time trial at the Tour de France.

… continued after advert

Post Race reactions

Mike Teunissen (Yellow jersey) “Yesterday it was a dream come true, and it’s the case today again. We went hard from the start. Dylan [Groenewegen] did a good work at the beginning but because of the crash yesterday, he couldn’t stay for long and we had to work out our tactic without George [Bennett] because he’s too small although he felt good. The other guys were very strong. Everybody kept their pace.”

“We heard we were the fastest. It gave us a lot of morale. We were flying. It’s not that I’m getting used to winning stages at the Tour de France but it remains special. In the end, yesterday it was mainly me who took credit for the win, today it’s eight strong riders, the staff and everyone who contributed to the team’s success. It was very big goal for us to win this.”

Adam Yates (Michelton Scott) “It was tough out there, for me personally at the beginning I sat in a little bit to make sure I could just get to the finish. We’ve got some strong guys in the team and they were pulling some really big turns.”

“We did a good ride, I’m not quite sure on all the splits yet, but once we get back to the hotel or the bus we can have a look and a sit down and take it from there. I think as a team we can be happy with that, yeah we would have liked to win, we would have liked to have taken some time out of some rivals, but it is what it is.”

“I think for all the teams it’s a stressful day, it’s not easy getting eight guys coordinated and ready to go, but throughout the years I’ve been with this team we’ve done a good job at that, and today was another day of going through the motions.”

Geraint Thomas (Ineos): “It was quite good going off first as your judgment on how the ride went isn’t skewed by the result, but I felt it was good. “Looking at GC, it’s a good performance, but obviously we wanted to win. I think 20 seconds [to Jumbo-Visma] is a big enough gap to know a few mistakes didn’t cost us the stage win. It was a positive day for sure.

“I have no injury issues, I was going pretty slow when I hit the barriers yesterday – I’m absolutely fine.”

Egan Bernal (Ineos) “I think we did a really good TTT and it was really nice to be in the hot seat. We took some time on some good GC riders today so it was perfect for us. I felt really good in the stage – the feeling was better than last year in the TTT. I can be happy with that because I’m not a specialist and I was doing the TT with some strong guys. It was difficult but I felt good. I’m happy to be through these first two stages. In a Grand Tour you have to go day by day. I’m already thinking about tomorrow.”

Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) “I’m quite happy with today. The team did a good job and I think we performed well in today’s TTT. Before the Tour I already said that losing 30 seconds on Team Ineos at the time trial would be OK, and now we just lost 21 seconds on them while the preparation for today was not perfect due to my crash yesterday. I was afraid that I could only sit in the final wheel today, but I was able to do my turns. We worked hard yesterday to recover as good as possible, with massages and the Indiba products, so I was able to pedal without too much pain. I still have big plans for this Tour, I’m ready to fight all the way until Paris, – said .

Mikel Landa (Movistar): “These 45″ gap was within the margins we expected to lost today. I’m really happy with our team; they really kept us Nairo and myself well protected. Our team composition is more biased towards the moutnains, and it’s difficult to be with the top contenders in such efforts.”

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar): “It’s OK, a gap within what we expected. It was a demanding time trial, but above that, a really fast one, which suits squads like INEOS really better. We’re satisfied with this result. It’s a hilly finish tomorrow, so we will have to remain really focused.”

Rohan Dennis (Bahrain Merida) “It’s always a tough race the TTT – says Rohan Dennis – I think as a team we rode quite well, but not perfectly. We still have to work on few things like maintaining speed while going fast. We were ninth today and the important thing is that we weren’t too far behind Team Ineos and with a Team Jumbo-Visma who was truly better than anybody else”.

Wout van Aert (White jersey) “When it hurts during a team time trial and we feel that we’re going fast, it’s a great feeling. It’s wonderful that we’ve won the first two stages. Many dreams are coming true to me these days. I’m taking part on my first Tour de France, starting from Belgium. We’ve got the Maillot Jaune, and actually all the jerseys except for the polka dot. No one expected us to actually be up there today.”

“We wanted to do our best in order to gain some time on the GC for Steven Kruijswijk, or at least not losing it… Yet we got the victory. So far, I’ve been feeling good but I weight 78kg so I won’t be able to retain the white jersey in the mountains. I’m in good shape but I don’t know a stage win will be within reach. Firstly, I want to enjoy this beautiful moment with the team. I hope the dream just doesn’t end too soon.”

Greg Van Avermaet “I think we did really well We were close to the second place, losing just 11 seconds. Only Team Jumbo-Visma was outstanding and out of reach but, the gap to the other teams was not significant. Everybody put in a very good performance. We didn’t lose too much time and we can be proud of what we did today. We had a good plan and everyone knew what they had to do, had trained really hard for this day, were in a good place and gave their all out on the road. If you look at the other teams that we finished next to in the results, we can be happy with our performance. I think we had a great first weekend of the Tour and hopefully, we can carry that on into the next days.”

… continued after advert

Stage 2
1. Team Jumbo – Visma 28:57
2. Team Ineos + 20
3. Deceuninck – Quick Step + 21
4. Team Sunweb + 26
5. Team Katusha – Alpecin + 26
6. EF Education First + 28
7. CCC Team + 31
8. Groupama – FDJ + 32
9. Bahrain – Merida + 36
10. Astana Pro Team + 41
11. Mitchelton – Scott + 41
12. Bora – Hansgrohe + 46
13. Cofidis, Solutions Credits + 53
14. Team Dimension Data + 54
15. Lotto – Soudal + 59
16. UAE Team Emirates + 01:03
17. Movistar Team + 01:05
18. Trek – Segafredo + 01:18
19. AG2R La Mondiale + 01:19
20. Total Direct Energie + 01:42
21. Team Arkéa – Samsic + 01:51
22. Wanty – Groupe Gobert + 01:58

Overall
1 Mike Teunissen Team Jumbo – Visma 04:51:34
2 Wout Van Aert Team Jumbo – Visma @ 10 secs
3 Steven Kruijswijk Team Jumbo – Visma @ 10
4 Tony Martin Team Jumbo – Visma @ 10
5 George Bennett Team Jumbo – Visma @ 10
6 Gianni Moscon Team Ineos @ 30
7 Egan Arley Bernal Team Ineos @ 30
8 Geraint Thomas Team Ineos @ 30
9 Dylan Van Baarle Team Ineos @ 30
10 Elia Viviani Deceuninck – Quick Step @ 31
11 Julian Alaphilippe Deceuninck – Quick Step @ 31
12 Kasper Asgreen Deceuninck – Quick Step @ 31
13 Enric Mas Deceuninck – Quick Step @ 31
14 Yves Lampaert Deceuninck – Quick Step @ 33
15 Michael Matthews Team Sunweb @ 36
16 Rick Zabel Team Katusha – Alpecin @ 36
17 Nils Politt Team Katusha – Alpecin @ 36
18 Wilco Kelderman Team Sunweb @ 36
19 Lennard Kämna Team Sunweb @ 36
20 Mads Würtz Schmidt Team Katusha – Alpecin @ 36
21 Ilnur Zakarin Team Katusha – Alpecin @ 36
22 Søren Kragh Andersen Team Sunweb @ 36
23 Alex Dowsett Team Katusha – Alpecin @ 36
24 Alberto Bettiol EF Education First @ 38
25 Tejay Van Garderen EF Education First @ 38
26 Rigoberto Uran EF Education First @ 38
27 Michael Woods EF Education First @ 38
28 Tanel Kangert EF Education First @ 38
29 Jose Goncalves Team Katusha – Alpecin @ 40
30 Greg Van Avermaet CCC Team @ 41
31 Patrick Bevin CCC Team @ 41
32 Sebastian Langeveld EF Education First @ 41
33 Joey Rosskopf CCC Team @ 41
34 Simon Geschke CCC Team @ 41
35 David Gaudu Groupama – FDJ @ 42
36 Rudy Molard Groupama – FDJ @ 42
37 Thibaut Pinot Groupama – FDJ @ 42
38 Stefan Küng Groupama – FDJ @ 42
39 Sebastien Reichenbach Groupama – FDJ @ 42
40 Nicolas Roche Team Sunweb @ 45
41 Sonny Colbrelli Bahrain – Merida @ 46
42 Vincenzo Nibali Bahrain – Merida @ 46
43 Jan Tratnik Bahrain – Merida @ 46
44 Damiano Caruso Bahrain – Merida @ 46
45 Alessandro De Marchi CCC Team @ 46
46 Rohan Dennis Bahrain – Merida @ 46
47 Matej Mohoric Bahrain – Merida @ 46
48 Peter Sagan Bora – Hansgrohe @ 50
49 Matteo Trentin Mitchelton – Scott @ 51
50 Daryl Impey Mitchelton – Scott @ 51
51 Adam Yates Mitchelton – Scott @ 51
52 Alexey Lutsenko Astana Pro Team 51
53 Luis León Sánchez Astana Pro Team @ 51
54 Hugo Houle Astana Pro Team @ 51
55 Jakob Fuglsang Astana Pro Team @ 51
56 Magnus Cort Astana Pro Team @ 51
57 Omar Fraile Astana Pro Team @ 51
58 Luke Durbridge Mitchelton – Scott @ 51
59 Pello Bilbao Astana Pro Team @ 51
60 Patrick Konrad Bora – Hansgrohe @ 56
61 Maximilian Schachmann Bora – Hansgrohe @ 56
62 Gregor Muhlberger Bora – Hansgrohe @ 56
63 Emanuel Buchmann Bora – Hansgrohe @ 56
64 Dylan Teuns Bahrain – Merida @ 59
65 Gorka Izagirre Astana Pro Team @ 01:00
66 Christophe Laporte Cofidis, Solutions Credits @ 01:03
67 Julien Simon Cofidis, Solutions Credits @ 01:03
68 Daniel Oss Bora – Hansgrohe @ 01:03
69 Nicolas Edet Cofidis, Solutions Credits @ 01:03
70 Jesus Herrada Lopez Cofidis, Solutions Credits @ 01:03
71 Anthony Perez Cofidis, Solutions Credits @ 01:03
72 Michal Kwiatkowski Team Ineos @ 01:03
73 Giacomo Nizzolo Team Dimension Data @ 01:04
74 Edvald Boasson Hagen Team Dimension Data 01:04
75 Roman Kreuziger Team Dimension Data @ 01:04
76 Benjamin King Team Dimension Data @ 01:04
77 Steve Cummings Team Dimension Data @ 01:04
78 Pierre-Luc Perichon Cofidis, Solutions Credits @ 01:07
79 Jasper De Buyst Lotto – Soudal @ 01:09
80 Roger Kluge Lotto – Soudal @ 01:09
81 Tiesj Benoot Lotto – Soudal @ 01:09
82 Tim Wellens Lotto – Soudal @ 01:09
83 Anthony Roux Groupama – FDJ @ 01:10
84 Michael Valgren Team Dimension Data @ 01:12
85 Lars Ytting Bak Team Dimension Data @ 01:12
86 Alexander Kristoff UAE Team Emirates @ 01:13
87 Jasper Philipsen UAE Team Emirates @ 01:13
88 Sergio Luis Henao UAE Team Emirates @ 01:13
89 Fabio Aru UAE Team Emirates @ 01:13
90 Vegard Stake Laengen UAE Team Emirates @ 01:13
91 Rui Costa UAE Team Emirates @ 01:13
92 Daniel Martin UAE Team Emirates @ 01:13
93 Sven Erik Bystrøm UAE Team Emirates @ 01:13
94 Jack Haig Mitchelton – Scott @ 01:14
95 Nairo Quintana Movistar Team @ 01:15
96 Andrey Amador Movistar Team @ 01:15
97 Alejandro Valverde Movistar Team @ 01:15
98 Marc Soler Movistar Team 01:15
99 Mikel Landa Movistar Team 01:15
100 Nelson Oliveira Movistar Team 01:15
101 Wout Poels Team Ineos 01:17
102 Jasper Stuyven Trek – Segafredo 01:28
103 Giulio Ciccone Trek – Segafredo 01:28
104 Richie Porte Trek – Segafredo 01:28
105 Fabio Felline Trek – Segafredo 01:28
106 Julien Bernard Trek – Segafredo 01:28
107 Bauke Mollema Trek – Segafredo 01:28
108 Romain Bardet AG2R La Mondiale 01:29
109 Mathias Frank AG2R La Mondiale 01:29
110 Tony Gallopin AG2R La Mondiale 01:29
111 Alexis Gougeard AG2R La Mondiale 01:29
112 Benoit Cosnefroy AG2R La Mondiale 01:29
113 Nikias Arndt Team Sunweb 01:32
114 Thomas Scully EF Education First 01:32
115 Marco Haller Team Katusha – Alpecin 01:34
116 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg Team Dimension Data 01:39
117 Natnael Berhane Cofidis, Solutions Credits 01:40
118 Oliver Naesen AG2R La Mondiale 01:46
119 Lilian Calmejane Total Direct Energie 01:52
120 Romain Sicard Total Direct Energie 01:52
121 Paul Ourselin Total Direct Energie 01:52
122 Rein Taaramäe Total Direct Energie 01:52
123 Niki Terpstra Total Direct Energie 01:52
124 Laurens De Plus Team Jumbo – Visma 01:55
125 Luke Rowe Team Ineos 01:58
126 Warren Barguil Team Arkéa – Samsic 02:01
127 Amaël Moinard Team Arkéa – Samsic 02:01
128 Maxime Bouet Team Arkéa – Samsic 02:01
129 Florian Vachon Team Arkéa – Samsic 02:01
130 Simon Clarke EF Education First 02:02
131 Andrea Pasqualon Wanty – Groupe Gobert 02:08
132 Guillaume Martin Wanty – Groupe Gobert 02:08
133 Xandro Meurisse Wanty – Groupe Gobert 02:08
134 Odd Christian Eiking Wanty – Groupe Gobert 02:08
135 Anthony Turgis Total Direct Energie 02:09
136 Michael Schär CCC Team 02:10
137 Yoann Offredo Wanty – Groupe Gobert 02:11
138 Maxime Monfort Lotto – Soudal 02:13
139 Mickaël Cherel AG2R La Mondiale 02:15
140 Alexis Vuillermoz AG2R La Mondiale 02:15
141 Frederik Backaert Wanty – Groupe Gobert 02:17
142 Marcus Burghardt Bora – Hansgrohe 02:18
143 Kevin Van Melsen Wanty – Groupe Gobert 02:28
144 Imanol Erviti Movistar Team 02:29
145 Niccolo Bonifazio Total Direct Energie 02:34
146 Lukasz Wisniowski CCC Team 02:42
147 Anthony Delaplace Team Arkéa – Samsic 02:44
148 Aimé De Gendt Wanty – Groupe Gobert 02:49
149 Cees Bol Team Sunweb 02:50
150 Chad Haga Team Sunweb 02:54
151 William Bonnet Groupama – FDJ 02:55
152 Fabien Grellier Total Direct Energie 02:55
153 Mathieu Ladagnous Groupama – FDJ 02:56
154 André Greipel Team Arkéa – Samsic 03:11
155 Carlos Verona Movistar Team 03:13
156 Caleb Ewan Lotto – Soudal 03:15
157 Thomas De Gendt Lotto – Soudal 03:17
158 Amund Grøndahl Jansen Team Jumbo – Visma 03:20
159 Christopher Juul Jensen Mitchelton – Scott 03:25
160 Maximiliano Richeze Deceuninck – Quick Step 03:36
161 Michael Hepburn Mitchelton – Scott 03:56
162 Simon Yates Mitchelton – Scott 03:56
163 Jens Keukeleire Lotto – Soudal 03:57
164 Dylan Groenewegen Team Jumbo – Visma 04:32
165 Michael Mørkøv Deceuninck – Quick Step 04:33
166 Jonathan Castroviejo Team Ineos 04:41
167 Serge Pauwels CCC Team 04:49
168 Koen De Kort Trek – Segafredo 04:57
169 Ivan Garcia Bahrain – Merida 05:10
170 Stéphane Rossetto Cofidis, Solutions Credits 05:17
171 Kevin Ledanois Team Arkéa – Samsic 05:27
172 Dries Devenyns Deceuninck – Quick Step 05:31
173 Lukas Pöstlberger Bora – Hansgrohe 06:01
174 Jens Debusschere Team Katusha – Alpecin 06:39
175 Elie Gesbert Team Arkéa – Samsic 07:22
176 Toms Skujins Trek – Segafredo 07:46

The Favourites
7 Egan Arley Bernal @ 30
8 Geraint Thomas @ 30
26 Rigoberto Uran @ 38
37 Thibaut Pinot @ 42
42 Vincenzo Nibali @ 46
51 Adam Yates @ 51
55 Jakob Fuglsang @ 51
89 Fabio Aru @ 1:13
92 Daniel Martin @ 1:13
95 Nairo Quintana @ 1:15
99 Mikel Landa @ 1:15
104 Richie Porte @ 1:28
108 Romain Bardet @ 1:29