Tour de France: Wout Van Aert beats wind to pick up second stage win
- British rider Adam Yates retains the yellow jersey while Peter Sagan takes the green points jersey
- Belgian expresses surprise after sprinting to victory ahead of monster Pyrenean mountain stages
Wout Van Aert picked up a second win of the 2020 Tour de France on Friday as aggressive tactics and crosswinds combined to produce an enthralling race that claimed several victims.
British rider Adam Yates retained the yellow jersey while Peter Sagan took the green points jersey after his Bora team led a carefully plotted and brilliantly executed attack to drop his sprint rivals.
The unflappable Yates said he had been expecting an easy day, on what was billed as a straightforward flat run through France’s rugby club heartland round Albi, ahead of two monster Pyrenean stages.
“It was full gas all the way today, from start to finish there were anxious moments,” said the yellow jersey whose rivals young Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, Colombian Richard Carapaz, Spaniard Mikal Landa and Australian veteran Richie Porte all trailed home one minute and 21 seconds adrift.
The plot unfolded from 150km as Bora launched an unexpected assault, cranking up the pace with attacks which succeeded in exploiting the crosswinds, splitting the pack and shedding Sagan’s rivals in the points classification, Irishman Sam Bennett who started the day in green, and Australian Caleb Ewan.
