The Dutch outfit Jumbo-Visma won stage 2 as well as stage 1 in Brussels as Mike Teunissen, Steven Kruijswijk, George Bennett, Wout van Aert and Tony Martin outclassed Team Ineos by twenty seconds so Teunissen retained the yellow jersey. They also maintained the long lived tradition of Dutch specialists since the very first team time trial of the Tour de France was won by the Dutch national team in Dieppe in 1955.
Team Ineos in the lead from the beginning
22 teams of 8 riders each took part in stage 2, a 27.6km long team time trial in and around Brussels, from the Royal Palace to the Atomium. Last in the teams classification after stage 1, Team Ineos got the ball rolling and set a reference time of 13’59’’ at Bois de la Cambre (km 13.2), 21’11’’ at Schaerbeek (km 20.1) and 29’18’’ on the finishing line at an average speed of 56.5km/h. Even though David Gaudu slipped in the last curve, Thibaut Pinot’s Groupama-FDJ bettered Astana by nine seconds on the finishing line as Jakob Fuglsang didn’t suffer much after his spectacular crash the day before. The time of Katusha-Alpecin at the first check point came as a shock as Alex Dowsett dragged his team-mates to a faster time than Ineos (by 3’’). It was confirmed by the second one (by 2’’). But six seconds were missing on the finishing line for the Swiss-registered squad to beat the British outfit.
Last on the road, first at the end
Ineos was still leading after half of the teams completed the course. Sunweb equalled Katusha-Alpecin’s time 6’’ adrift. Deceuninck-Quick Step was close to dethrone the leaders but their fourth man wasn’t able to hold onto Julian Alaphilippe’s slipstream at the end. Eight tenth of a second were missing for the Belgian squad. However, as soon as Jumbo-Visma hit the road, they were clearly one class above all other stage contenders. They were ahead at all time checks and clocked a faster time than Ineos by twenty seconds. It’s the first time since 2001 (Stuart O’Grady’s Crédit Agricole) that a yellow jersey holder wins the team time trial. Teunissen is the first Dutchman to wear the yellow jersey for two days in a row since Teun van Vliet in 1988. Panasonic was the last Dutch team to win the team time trial at the Tour de France.
