Victor Lafay has ended a 15-year wait for the Cofidis team for a stage victory on the Tour de France. The 27-year-old Frenchman took the race into his own hands with an attack with 1km to go after making the select group when the field split to pieces on the final climb of today's stage 2.
And when Lafay opened his gap, with a power bazooka as the finish line approached, the Jumbo Visma riders that were left in the group simply did not have the power to close him down on behalf of Wout van Aert, the hot favourite for the stage.
The last bit of Jumbo Visma power appears to have been drained from their legs when they covered a late attack by Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers). And when Lafay went, they had no answer, though Tiesj Benoot and Wilco Kelderman tried their best.
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When they made very little inroads into Lafay's gap as the line approached in San Sébastián, it was left to Van Aert to open his sprint early and hope that would be enough to overhaul the Frenchman. However, Lafay - who also put in a fantastic ride yesterday - was too strong.
Van Aert sprinted in, right on the winner's back wheel, and shook his right arm in frustration at having missed a golden chance to take a victory. There were just 24 riders in the front group on the finish line after UAE Team Emirates had shred the field on the final climb, the Jaizkibel.
However, while Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) and Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) pulled clear on the upper slopes of the climb, Vingegaard refused to work with Pogacar and both slipped back into the group.
That appeared to set up an inevitable group sprint to be won by Van Aert, though the flying Lafay had other ideas, attacking under the 1km to go banner and winning in fine style after Jumbo Visma were much weaker over that final 1km than expected.
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Van Aert was a close second, on the same time as Lafay, with Pogačar 3rd and bringing his time bonuses so far to 12 seconds. Yesterday's stage winner, Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), was in the front group today - after pushing up the pace for Pogačar on the climb - and he retains the yellow jersey.
Adam Yates leads by six seconds from team mate Pogačar, with his brother Simon Yates (Jayco AlUla) in 3rd, also at six seconds.
