tour de france 2024: stage 2
by Rémy Rossi
The Break Still Works
Those who cheer for underdogs, the lesser-knowns, and young rookies also root for the breakaway. Deep down we probably all want to see the breakaway win (and a narrow margin is even more thrilling). However, if the break triumphed more often, we’d likely want the opposite. We always want the things we don’t have. Still, the breakaway has had its way so far in this Tour, having taken stage honors on the first two days.
23-year-old Frenchman Kevin Vauquelin claimed victory by dropping the rest of the valiant breakaway and going solo into the two laps of Bologna that includes the steep San Luca climb. Maybe it’s not as poetic as a French win on home soil, but Provence supporters can’t complain about a pair of consecutive victoires that have arrived so quickly. I guess home advantage works in reverse in the sport of cycling. Or perhaps the French riders are pedaling extra fast to get home— they prefer baquettes to pasta.
Double Trouble
Pogacar and Vingegaard are by no means allies, but their joint attack up the ascent of San Luca— with each taking spirited pulls— spelled trouble for the other GC contenders. Pogacar attacked and Vingegaard was the only rider able to respond and the wattage-bazooka pair tag-teamed the final laps around Bologna, aiming to take time on their rivals behind. The Dane took a conservative approach, careful not to set himself up to be attacked again by Pogacar, but took his fair share of turns in front of the Slovenian.
This moment marked the first look at the hotly anticipated battle between the team leaders of UAE Emirates and Visma Lease-a-Bike. Tadej is coming off of a moderate bout of Covid and we all know that Jonas had been recovering from multiple injuries from a devastating crash the Tour of the Basque Country earlier in the season. But in the finale of Stage 2, the leading pair quashed any doubts that they weren’t the top dogs in the pack.
A Note About Forks
As a twin, I’m probably more naturally inclined to see twos everywhere: pairs, dyads, duos, dueces, you name it. The rule of three? Pshh… what the hell is that. Pairs and even numbers calm me down and give a settled order to the world, and I don’t think I’m alone in this— my hunch is that science and all that talk about entropy backs me up here.
There’s a reason that odd numbers are labeled as, well.. odd. Case and point: three-pronged forks. What. The. Fuck. Hell, the proper design of the cuterly is even integrated into the name: four-k! Four prongs and that’s the rule. Two prongs and that’s the weird spear thing for barbeque and I’ll accept it. Forks with three prongs simply petrify me. Okay, maybe (just maybe) the trident design is fine for small plate tapas where the proportionally small size of the cutlery can help it get away with such an unsettling number of prongs. I’ve gone off topic but I won’t apologize for preaching my gospel.
Duece, Yes. Truce, No.
When it comes to the Tour, though, we’ve got a pair of cycling aces that have only just revealed their strength and desire to win. Let’s wait and see what tricks they have hidden up their jersey sleeves.
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