Tour de France 2023: Victor Lafay stuns Wout van Aert on Stage 2, Tadej Pogacar takes 12 bonus seconds

Victor Lafay (Cofidis) sprung a huge surprise to win Stage 2 at the 2023 Tour de France as the fancied Wout van Aert and his Jumbo-Visma team-mates were left to rue indecision in the final kilometre.

Lafay caught Jumbo-Visma napping with a blistering attack under the flamme rouge, with the Dutch team’s quartet of Van Aert, Wilco Kelderman, Tiesj Benoot and Jonas Vingegaard reacting too late as the Frenchman held on for the unlikeliest of victories. The win ends the French team’s 15-year wait for a victory in the Tour.

It was a good day too for Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), as the two-time champion grabbed 12 bonus seconds – eight on the final Alto de Jaizkibel climb, and four more with third place at the finishline – to move second in the general classification, six seconds back from team-mate Adam Yates.

After Saturday’s Bilbao out-and-back, Sunday saw the Tour make a mazy north-easterly beeline out of the Basque capital Vitoria-Gasteiz towards the coast at San Sebastian. In style and scenery the course sought to mimic the Clasica San Sebastian, which traditionally takes place in August.

As holder of the yellow and white jerseys, UAE Team Emirates were perfectly prepared to take things up at the head of the pack. Their riders were more willing than those of Jumbo-Visma to give the breakers room to breathe and, at least, a fighting chance to take victory in the longest stage of this year’s Tour de France.

Which was where the day really sparked into life, as Rafal Majka (UAE Team Emirates) decimated the pack before Yates took up the running to tee up Pogacar’s bid for a mid-stage time bonus.

Pogacar saw off Vingegaard in a summit sprint as the pair sailed clear on the descent, with the Slovenian looking for his rival to come through for a turn – an invitation that was rejected – before easing off and allowing a sizeable group to re-group 12km from the finish.

After Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) was reeled in following an audacious move on the descent, Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) tried an attack with 3km remaining but was tracked by Van Aert.

Jumbo resumed control, or so they thought, with a view to setting Van Aert up for a reduced sprint finish. Their plan was scuppered, however, when Lafay caught them napping with a brilliant attack. Too late Jumbo woke to the move and although they gained ground in the home straight, Van Aert doing enough to sprint for second, the Frenchman Lafay stayed away to end Cofidis’ long wait.

“I just went out there and did everything I could,” said Lafay.

“Yesterday I was a bit frustrated but to do things today, and realise I can do things at this level, be there at the end, that’s amazing. It was a really hard pace today but as it got nearer the end I thought maybe I could make it. I knew there would be attacks towards the end and I thought either I can attack in the downhill and do something there. I just said to myself to go for it.”