🌧️ Blood, Rain & Carbon: Stage 2 of the Tour de France Was a Wet-Weather Warzone

If cycling’s a beautiful game, today it was a knife fight in a downpour. Stage 2 of the Tour de France 2025 delivered exactly the kind of blood-and-thunder drama fans secretly crave: torrential rain, greasy roads, carbon carnage, and a sprint finish that could wake the dead.

Let’s break down this absolute banger of a stage.

🌧️ The Calm Before the Storm

Rolling out from Cergy-Pontoise, it started with a hint of optimism. A few brave souls darted into the early break — Kévin Vauquelin, Matis Louvel, and Alex Baudin lighting the fuse on what promised to be a cagey transitional stage. Spoiler: it was anything but cagey.

As the peloton rolled toward the treacherous Côte de Saint-Étienne-au-Mont — a cruel little kicker with a 15.3% wall near the end — dark clouds gathered, both literal and tactical.

🚴‍♂️ 8 Crashes, 7 Punctures, 1 Warzone

Then came the rain. And with it? Absolute chaos.

• 8 riders hit the deck in slick roundabouts and narrow village lanes.
• 7 punctures left GC contenders and sprinters scrambling for service cars like cats up a tree.
• The breakaway shattered, and team radios crackled like a war movie soundtrack.

Biniam Girmay, Tadej Pogačar, and Jasper Philipsen all had moments in the wind. Meanwhile, the likes of Jonas Vingegaard surfed the spray-slicked pack with the calm of a man who’s seen worse.

It was carnage. And it was magnificent.

🔥 Côte de Saint-Étienne-au-Mont: The Peloton Breaker

15.3% gradient. Narrow, greasy, unforgiving.

As the peloton hit Côte de Saint-Étienne-au-Mont, attacks flew like shrapnel. Mathieu Van Der Poel lit the fuse with a savage burst, dragging Pogi and Girmay in his wake. Legs screamed, rear wheels slipped, and fans lining the road howled like wolves.

Philipsen clung on like a barnacle in a storm, readying for the run-in to Boulogne-sur-Mer.

💥 Sprint Finish: Merlier’s Wet-Weather Clinic

The final kilometer was pure madness. In the wind tunnel streets of Boulogne, positioning was everything.

Tim Merlier, tucked low like a bullet in a crosswind, launched the perfect wet-weather sprint. Girmay gave chase, Philipsen boxed in, and Van Der Poel out of room.

Merlier crossed the line pumping his fists, rain streaming down his face like battle scars.

📊 Key Race Data

🕹️ Tactical Takeaways

• Alpecin-Deceuninck’s wet-weather tactics were flawless. MVDP as chaos creator, Merlier as finisher.
• GC contenders played safe. Vingegaard, Pogi, and Evenepoel avoided the big wrecks and kept their powder dry.
• Breakaways doomed early. Wet descents + narrow roads = no place for brave solo artists.

🏆 Final Thought

It’s not over ‘til the fat lady sings — but today, the peloton sang a wet, wild, and wonderfully violent tune.

If this is what Stage 2 delivers, you’d better buckle up for what’s coming next.

Who was your rider of the day? Drop your pick in the poll below and we’ll crown a fan-favorite warhorse.