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Pogacar wins yellow jersey, Vauquelin wins second stage

                          Pogacar wins yellow jersey, Vauquelin wins second stage 


Pogacar wins yellow jersey, Vauquelin wins second stage


Tadej Pogačar took over the leader's yellow jersey after Frenchman Kevin Vauquelin won the second stage of the Tour de France.


Vauquelin broke away from the lead group to claim his first Grand Tour stage victory, making the Arkea B&B Hotel driver just the second Frenchman to win the race in 2024.


UAE Team Emirates' Pogačar accelerated on the final climb of the 199.2km stage to Bologna, Italy, but took his biggest rival and last year's winner, Jonas Vingegard, with him.


Visma Reece-à-Bike's Dane Vingegard crossed the finish line with Pogačar, but the Slovenian had a better position in the first stage and took the yellow jersey.


Asked if he wanted to try for the stage win, Pogacar replied: "No, the breakaway would have been too difficult and in this weather, in this heat there was no need to kill my teammate." "We just let natural selection take over and that's what happened. Of course, going for the stage win could have backfired, so we decided to be more calm and collected, but we tried ourselves in the final."


Pogačar and Vanjegaard, both four-time winners of La Grande Boucle, share the same overall time, along with Belgian Remco Evenepoel of Soudal-QuickStep and Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz of EF Education Easy Post.


Perhaps the biggest loser of the day was Primož Roglic, who conceded 21 seconds to Pogačar and Vingegaard as he crossed the finish line in a pack of 19 GC contenders.


Among them were the Ineos Grenadiers trio Carlos Rodríguez, Egan Bernal, Tom Pidcock, brothers Simon and Adam Yates, and Saturday's stage winner Romain Bardet.


Geraint Thomas, the 2018 champion who supported Rodriguez and Bernal in the race, finished more than four minutes behind. Monday's race will cover 230.8km from Plaisance to Turin and is expected to end in a sprint that will give Mark Cavendish a chance to set a new record with his 35th Tour stage win.



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