The second week of the Tour de France was a juxtaposition of predictability and surprises as the fortunes of some teams and riders rose, while others came crashing down. As was the case last year, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) is in charge of the yellow jersey, but we witnessed a first Tour stage win for Uno-X Mobility and a podium contender abandon the race.
On the first rest day, UAE, Alpecin, EF and Quick-Step were the teams firing on all cylinders but apart from UAE, who have only boosted their success, the others have slipped in terms of results. How did the second week go for the rest of the 23 teams?
Alpecin-Deceuninck – 6/10
Although Mathieu van der Poel got into the key breakaways on stages 11 and 15, coming third in the former, and has quietly amassed enough green jersey points to leave him in third in the classification, the second week was muted for the team that lit up many of the first 10 stages.
Arkéa-B&B Hotels – 7/10
Kévin Vauquelin has continued to outperform expectations, currently sitting in fifth on GC and third in the white jersey competition. Not only that but his teammates Cristián Rodríguez and Raúl García Pierna have shown remarkable form in the mountains and could provide the support the Frenchman needs to hold onto his top five position as the race enters its mountainous finale.
Bahrain-Victorious – 7/10
Lenny Martinez is in the polka-dot jersey, with 60 points, eight ahead of Pogačar, who will likely reclaim the lead of the classification, as he is the favourite to win stage 16 to Mont Ventoux. However, after the Giant of Provence there are still a number of key climbs left in the race, including five hors catégorie ascents — there is still a maximum of 156 points to be won.
While Martinez will be focused on the KOM, Matej Mohorič and Fred Wright have started to show signs of interest in breakaways and stages 17 and 20 suit their attributes.
Cofidis – 1/10
In the first week, the French team’s best result came when Bryan Coquard’s was seventh on stage eight, but in the second week they couldn’t break into the top 10. Worse still, their sprinter had to abandon the race after stage 14.
Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale Team – 6/10
After a subdued start to the Tour, Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale Team are beginning to show some intent through Felix Gall who has moved himself up to seventh overall. With more high mountains to come, he will be eyeing the top five.