Place Name: Boulevard Auguste Mariette
Address: 105 Boulevard Auguste Mariette, 62200 Boulogne-sur-Mer, France
Details: July 6, 2025
The riders leave Lauwin-Planque, just South of Douai, for a 209KM journey to Boulogne-sur-Mer that covers nearly 2,500M of elevation for the longest stage in this year's Tour. They head predominantly West for 160KM towards the first categorized climb of the Côte de Cavron-Saint-Martin and the intermediate sprint in Bréxent-Énocq. The riders turn North in Montreuil where the finale begins. The category three climb of Côte du Haut Pichot, 1.1KM at 9%, comes 30KM from the finish. Afterwards, the road gently rolls down for the next 20KM until the Côte Saint-Étienne-au-Mont which is 1.1KM at 9.5%. The Côte d'Outreau comes directly after, 800M at 8%. There is a short downhill before the final rise to the line in Boulogne-sur-Mer. With so many hills along the way, the route suits a punchy rider and the sprinters may not make it to the line.
Heavy rain came down all night and into the morning and when the riders lined up on the start line, umbrellas were still up. The damp conditions didn't discourage the tens of thousands of spectators from showing up however. Yevgeniy Fedorov of XDS-Astana, Bruno Armirail of Decathlon AG2R, Brent Van Moer of Lotto, and Andreas Leknessund of Uno-X Mobility got away early on and built a lead that hovered around 3 minutes with Silvan Dillier of Alpecin-Deceuninck and Jonas Rutsch of Intermarché-Wanty chasing in the peloton. With 165KM to go, the break went through Camblain-l'Abbé and through a left turn on wet roads, Fedorov hit the deck as did Leknessund. They fortunately both got back up and rejoined Armirail and Van Moer in the break.
The break reached the Côte de Cavron-Saint-Martin and just like yesterday, Armirail was the first to attack but he went too early at 400M from the line. Van Moer came over the top of Armirail as the road flattened but it was Leknessund who timed it right and took the single point at the top. A crash a few kilometers later took down a few riders including Fred Wright of Bahrain Victorious as well as Lennert Van Eetvelt of Lotto who had quite a lot of road rash but was able to get going again. Riders started to move forward and the peloton was in a block with 95KM to go. The road dried out considerably and the speed in the peloton increased as the riders approached Montreuil and the turn North up the coast.
By the time the break went through Montreuil, their lead was down to 1 minute. Sprint teams were pushing forward and the gap was down to 35 seconds with 5KM still to go to the intermediate sprint. The leaders were forced to bump up their effort and they managed to stay away with Fedorov winning the sprint. The bunch came storming behind for the remaining sprint points just 15 seconds later. The peloton's momentum continued and the break was caught with 52KM to go. The next 17KM were calm relative to the previous few kilometers but with 35KM to go, the pace went back up to position for the Côte du Haut Pichot.
Visma-Lease a Bike led on to the climb but Tim Wellens of UAE-XRG took over and strung the race out into a single line. The group split about 40 riders back but groups came back and the bunch was nearly complete again with 26KM to go.
The run into the Côte Saint-Étienne-au-Mont was rapid. Matteo Trentin of Tudor Pro Cycling did a massive turn but it was Groupama-FDJ that led onto the climb. Visma-Lease a Bike took over with Tiesj Benoot and only the best of the best could handle the pace. Matteo Jorgenson led over the climb with his teammate and leader Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogačar of UAE-XRG, Mathieu van der Poel of Alpecin-Deceuninck, Remco Evenepoel of Soudal Quickstep, and Romain Grégoire of Groupama-FDJ. The group swelled over the top and by the start of the Côte d'Outreau with 6KM to go, the group was around 25 riders deep. Kévin Vauquelin of Arkéa-B&B Hotels attacked 200M from the top but he was marked out. At the start of the descent, Vingegaard attacked but Evenepoel was wise to it and closed down the Dane.
Vauquelin counter attacked and was followed by Jorgenson and Alexey Lutsenko of Israel-Premier Tech but again, the gap was closed and the race was back together with 2.5KM to go. Florian Lipowitz of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe was next to go but UAE-XRG got organized and brought him back just under 1KM to go. The group of around 30 started the final rise to the line with 700M to go. Julian Alaphilippe of Tudor Pro Cycling was first to move but it was not a full effort. Van der Poel closed him down and, as a result, was stuck on the front with 450M to go with everyone waiting behind. Van der Poel led into a small dip down with 200M to go and opened his sprint when the road went back up through a sweeping right corner. Pogačar was on the wheel and the two were matched pedal for pedal but it was van der Poel who had the better run and crossed the line to make it two wins in two days for Alpecin-Deceunink. Pogačar took second with Vingegaard in third.
With the time bonus, van der Poel took over the race lead and sits 4 seconds ahead of Pogačar and 6 seconds ahead of Vingegaard with Vauquelin in fourth at 10 seconds.
Tags: Tour de France, 2025, July, Stage 2, Tour de France 2025, Lauwin-Planque, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Yevgeniy Fedorov, Bruno Armirail, Brent Van Moer, Andreas Leknessund, Silvan Dillier, Jonas Rutsch, Tim Wellens, Matteo Trentin, Tiesj Benoot, Matteo Jorgenson, Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogačar, Mathieu van der Poel, Remco Evenepoel, Romain Grégoire, Kévin Vauquelin, Florian Lipowitz, Alexey Lutsenko, Julian Alaphilippe