Victor Lafay wins Tour de France Stage 2 as Tadej Pogacar moves up to second overall

Victor Lafay won Stage two of the Tour de France in San Sebastian, ending a 15-year wait for the Cofidis team to enjoy victory in their home race.

The Frenchman timed a late attack to perfection as he broke clear of a peloton reduced to just 24 riders, then just hanging on to beat pre-stage favourite Wout Van Aert to the line.

Two-times winner Tadej Pogacar finished third for the second day running, moving up to second in the overall standings, six seconds behind UAE Team Emirates colleague Adam Yates who retained the yellow jersey. Lafay sits fourth 12 seconds down on the leader.

UAE Team Emirates did a huge amount of work almost all day to control a three-man break, with a big turn from Rafal Majka on the final climb of the Jazikibel splitting the peloton to pieces with only two dozen riders able to handle the pace.

Pogacar burst forward to take the bonus seconds at the top of the climb and briefly looked like he might try to attack on the descent with defending champion Jonas Vingegaard on his wheel, but he eventually sat up.

Van Aert covered late attacks from Tom Pidcock and Mattias Jensen on the final run into town, but when Lafay made his move with one kilometre to go a moment’s hesitation proved critical.