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Julian Alaphilippe won the second stage of the Tour de France in a final sprint to claim the yellow jersey in Nice.
The Frenchman stopped Marc Hirschi to get home on half a wheel after outrunning Britain’s Adam Yates on one last dart towards the line.
He leads Yates, who finished third, by four seconds in the overall standings.
It was the fifth stage victory of the Tour for the 28-year-old, after the riders faced a second mountainous stage of 186km, with two climbs above 1,500m.
It looked like the stage was set for Alaphilippe to light up the race on a hilly course around Nice that capitalized on its strengths.
And typically, the French puncheur launched one of his signature attacks on Sunday’s final climb up the Col des Quatre Chemins.
Yates and the Swiss Hirschi worked with the Deceuninck-QuickStep driver to distance the main group, before Alaphilippe claimed his first victory of 2020.
“I have always remained serious with my training despite the difficult times I went through, I dedicate this victory to my father [who passed away in June]”Alaphilippe said.
“I asked my team to make the race difficult.
“There weren’t many riders left on the last climb. I gave it my all, I had nothing to lose. It was stressful, but Adam Yates cooperated.
“I wanted to keep the gap until the flamme rouge [which marks the last kilometre]. I’m a bit used to pressure. Finishing it makes me feel good. This is the victory that I was missing. The yellow jersey is the icing on the cake. “
Alaphilippe, who wore the yellow jersey for 14 stages in the 2019 edition of the Tour, now leads the race four seconds ahead of Yates due to time bonuses.
By early Sunday, the peloton had safely cleared the steep slopes of Col de la Colmiane and Col de Turini, in contrast to Chaotic opening on Saturday stage.
However, it was a difficult day for the sprinters, with Saturday’s yellow jersey winner Alexander Kristoff among those who finished more than 28 minutes at Alaphilippe.
On Monday’s third stage, the race will cover 198 km from Nice to Sisteron.
Result of the second stage
1. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra / Deceuninck-Quick-Step) 4 hours 55 minutes 27 seconds
2. Marc Hirschi (Swi / Team Sunweb) at the same time
3. Adam Yates (GB / Mitchelton-Scott) + 1 second
4. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel / CCC Team) + 2 seconds
5. Sergio Higuita (Col / EF Pro Cycling) at the same time
Bauke Mollema (Ned / Trek-Segafredo)
7. Alexey Lutsenko (KazAstana Pro Team)
8. Tadej Pogacar (Slo / UAE Team Emirates)
9. Maximilian Schachmann (Ger / BORA-hansgrohe)
10. Alberto Bettiol (Ita / EF Pro Cycling)
General classification after stage two
1. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra / Deceuninck-Quick-Step) 8 hours 41 minutes 35 seconds
2. Adam Yates (GB / Mitchelton-Scott) + 4 seconds
3. Marc Hirschi (Swi / Team Sunweb) + 7 seconds
4. Sergio Higuita (Col / EF Pro Cycling) + 17 seconds
5. Tadej Pogacar (Slo / UAE Team Emirates) at the same time
6. Esteban Chaves (Col / Mitchelton-Scott)
7. David formolam (Yes / UAE Team Emirates)
8. Egan Bernal (Colonel / Grenadiers of INEOS)
9. Richard Carapaz (Ecu / INEOS Grenadiers)
Tom Dumoulin (Ned / Jumbo-Visma)