Alaphilippe wins stage 2 of the Tour and the yellow jersey

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Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe won the second stage of the Tour de France, a 186km mountain course around Nice, and took the overall leader yellow jersey on Sunday.

Swiss Marc Hirschi came second and Britain’s Adam Yates came home third.

Alaphilippe, who last year wore the coveted jersey for 14 days, kept his cool to prevail in a three-man sprint in a time of four hours, 55 minutes and 27 seconds.

The trio were nearly caught by the peloton as they played cat and mouse with the finish line calling, but the final flurry of Deceuninck’s rider Alaphillippe – Quick-Step saw him defeat Hirschi (Sunweb), with Yates crossing a second behind. .

Belgian Greg Van Avermaet (CCC Team) emerged from the chasing peloton to finish fourth ahead of Colombian Sergio Andrés Higuita (EF Pro Cycling) and Dutchman Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), who was sixth.

Nicolas Roche was 24th, just 17 seconds behind Alaphilippe, but Dan Martin was drifting 18 minutes into the 100th and Sam Bennett, fourth yesterday, finished near the back of the field, almost half an hour behind the winners.

Alaphillippe leads the overall standings in a time of 8: 41.35, four seconds ahead of Yates, with Hirschi three seconds behind and Higuita in fourth place.

Overnight yellow jersey holder Alexander Kristoff lost contact with the peloton five kilometers from the top of Col de Turini, a 14.9 km climb with an average gradient of 7.4%, long before it began. the action.

Alaphillippe dedicated his fifth stage win to his late father and couldn’t hide his emotions in the end.

“There is great excitement because I have won on the Tour,” said Alaphillippe. “I haven’t won since the beginning of the season, so I’ve been working really hard.

“I have been working hard when it has been very hard due to Covid and I want to dedicate this victory to my father, who died in June.

“I got to the last climb and gave it my all on that climb and having Adam Yates and Hirschi going up also made me nervous, but we collaborated well in the headwind, which was tough, but I did it.”



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