Tour de France Stage 2 Preview: Another Day of Brutal Climbs

Stage 2 - Saturday, July 2 - Vitoria-Gasteiz to San Sébastián - 208.9K

The longest stage of the 2023 Tour de France–and another filled with Basque climbs–Stage 2 should be another intense (and exhausting) day of racing–and could end with a new rider wearing the yellow jersey as the Tour’s overall leader.

The day begins in Vitoria-Gasteiz the capital of the Basque Country and the birthplace of the 2002 Tour-runner-up Joseba Beloki, who’s known for crashing violently on the descent into Gap at the end of Stage 9 in the 2003.

The first hour is fairly flat, but a little while after speeding through the intermediate sprint in Legutio the climbing begins, with a series of jagged categorized and uncategorized through the Basque hills. By now a breakaway should have escaped, perhaps with one of Neilson Powless’ (EF Education-EasyPost) teammates heading out to defend the American’s lead in the Tour’s King of the Mountains competition. Lotto-Destny’s Pascal Eenkhoorn and Intermarché-Circus-Wanty’s Georg Zimmermann sit just two points behind Powless, so expect them or one of their teammates to join the break in an attempt to take it away from the American.

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But it’s final 40km of that stage that matters, with the Category 4 Côte de Gurutze serving as the appetizer to the day’s biggest and final challenge: the Category 2 Jaizkibel (8.1 km at 5.3%), where another 8, 5, and 2 bonus seconds await the first three riders over the summit, which comes just 16.5km from the finish line in San Sébastián. As it does during the Clásica San Sébastián, a one-day race held here a week or two after each year’s Tour de France, the Jaizkibel should launch the stage-winning selection and possibly the stage winner itself.

Great Britain’s Adam Yates enters the day in the yellow jersey, and as a former winner of the Clásica San Sébastián, he should have no trouble defending the jersey and competing for another stage win–on paper, at least.

But he’s clearly here to support Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar’s bid to win the Tour overall, and will take his own chances only if they don’t conflict with Pog’s. So if Yates ends the day in yellow, it’s only because doing so did not get in the way of the team’s overall strategy for winning the Tour.

Unfortunately, the roads should be wet, with showers overnight and light rain into the morning, with scattered showers expected throughout the afternoon. The descent of the Jaizkibel can be treacherous, which means fewer risks will be taken by the Tour’s GC contenders for fear of a crash ending their Tour prematurely.

Stage 2 takes its finale right from the roadbook of the Clásica San Sébastián, a one-day race held here a week or two after each year’s Tour de France. France’s Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quick Step) and the United States’ Neilsen Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) won the Clásica in 2018 and 2021, respectively, and have to be counted among the favorites on Sunday.

Other contenders include many of the riders we saw at the front at the end of Stage 1, including Great Britain’s Simon Yates (Team Jayco AlUla), Denmark’s Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), and Spain’s Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious). We’ll also keep an eye on Great Britain’s Tom Pidcock (INEOS Grenadiers), who was absent in the finale of Stage 1, but perhaps because he was saving himself for Stage 2. One of the sport’s best descenders, Pidcock could light up the race coming down the Jaizkibel.

This is a long stage and it’s a Sunday, so we suggest waiting until the final hour to see the run-in to the Jaizkibel and the stage finale. Tuning-in around 10:15 a.m. EDT should get the job done, with the stage expected to end about an hour later.