Jakobsen wins Tour de France stage 2, Van Aert takes lead

Sprinter Fabio Jakobsen won stage two of the Tour de France on Saturday vindicating his Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team’s decision to select him ahead of Mark Cavendish.

Jakobsen edged Jumbo-Visma’s Wout van Aert, who took the overall leader’s yellow jersey after the 202.2km run from Roskilde to Nyborg in Denmark that included a treacherous crossing of the 18km-long Great Belt Bridge.

Dutch rider Jakobsen’s win means Quick-Step have two victories in as many days, after they chose against picking veteran Cavendish, a 34-time stage winner on the race.

Denmark’s Mads Pederson was third to give local fans double reason to celebrate as another Dane, Magnus Cort Nielsen, sporting a handlebar moustache, won the climber’s points jersey along the way.

A day after an awe-inspiring wall of sound reverberated around Copenhagen reaching its peak as Jonas Vingegaard was swept along on a wave of emotion, rural Denmark also turned out in raucous droves to roar on the riders in bright sunshine.

The peloton set off from chic Roskilde, known as the garden of Copenhagen, with its galleries and festivals with New York rockers The Strokes due to play there later, a huge youthful crowds gave the race quite a send off.

The main feature of the race was the crossing of the Great Belt Bridge where overall leader Yves Lampaert was one of many fallers in strong winds.