Stage 2: Niederkorn (Differdange) – Junglinster, 166.8 kilometres

Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) won the second stage of the Škoda Tour de Luxembourg in a bunch sprint at Junglinster. The Dutchman finished ahead of Timo Kielich (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) and Pierre Gautherat (Decathlon CMA CGM Team), both credited with the same time. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech), who started the stage in the yellow jersey, crossed the line in fifth place, also in the same time.

Starting from Niederkorn, in the former mining basin in the south of the country, the stage headed for the east of the Grand Duchy before taking on the finishing circuit around Junglinster. The Montée de Berdorf, the longest categorised climb of the day, and the Montée de Waldbillig were its main difficulties.

The day’s breakaway formed shortly after the start in Niederkorn and consisted of five riders: Maël Guegan (CIC Pro Cycling Academy), Steyn van der Veen (Metec – Solarwatt p/b Mantel), Mauro Brenner (Rembe | Rad-net), Conrad Haugsted (Team Coloquick) and Mats Berns (National Team Luxembourg). Joshua Amos Gudnitz and Sebastian Nielsen (Team Coloquick) later bridged across to the leading group, which included three riders from the same team in the final part of the race.

On the finishing circuit around Junglinster, some 20 kilometres from the line, the peloton temporarily split into several groups. By that point the front of the race had been reduced to the three Team Coloquick riders, who were also brought back later on. The closing phase was also marked by repeated attacks in the main field.

On the final lap, Søren Kragh Andersen (Lidl-Trek) and Matteo Vercher (TotalEnergies) went clear and built an advantage of up to 15”, before being caught 1 kilometre from the line. The stage therefore ended in a bunch sprint, won by van den Berg.

In the general classification, van den Berg takes over the yellow jersey, 4” ahead of Gautherat and of van der Poel, the winner of the opening stage.

The reactions

Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost): “I was extremely motivated and I really wanted this win. The closing phase was quite hectic, with a lot of attacks. The aim was to position myself well for the sprint. My team did an outstanding job, and Lukas Nerurkar’s lead-out was really strong. That is exactly how we had discussed it this morning. I started my sprint too early, which was not very clever, but in the end it was enough. Tomorrow will be a different day. I have no ambitions for the general classification, so we will put ourselves fully at the service of Mikkel Honoré.”