Mathieu van der Poel, the hugely talented grandson of Tour de France legend, Raymond Poulidor, won the 183.5km second stage of the 2021 race to the steep climb of Mûr-de-Bretagne, to move into the overall lead. The young Dutch rider has a rich family heritage. His grandfather was known as the “eternal second” – a rival to five-time Tour winner Jacques Anquetil – who finished on the Tour podium in Paris eight times, although never on the top step. His father Adrie was also a Tour stage winner who wore the yellow jersey, and a world cyclo-cross champion. The Dutch prodigy is well aware of the expectations that surround him, given that illustrious heritage, but this is his first experience of leading a Grand Tour. After being presented with the maillot jaune the 26-year-old struggled to compose himself. “It’s quite unbelievable,” he said. “The emotion really came when they told me 100% that I had the yellow jersey. It was an emotional moment. It’s very special to wear the yellow jersey in my first Tour de France.” Before the first stage, Van der Poel had vowed to win a stage in tribute to his late grandfather. “It’s something special if you can wear the yellow jersey once in your career and it would be even nicer if my grandfather was still here to see it,” he had said. “I would have loved to be in the Tour start village with him but it’s a bit too late for that to happen.” On a day of sunshine and showers that thankfully lacked the horrendous pile-ups that had characterised Saturday’s first stage, Chris Froome recovered from his heavy crash to continue in the Tour after a long Saturday evening spent undergoing scans in hospital. “It’s pretty swollen, it’s pretty painful and it hurts when I stand up, but it’s alright,” Froome said. “I could get through today and I’ll just take it one day at a time. I just want to try and get through these next few days and survive up until the time trial. I’ll maybe use the time trial as a bit of a recovery day and then hope to come round a little bit and give more to the team over the next week.” After an early breakaway was reeled in, the stage really came to life on two ascents of the Mûr-de-Bretagne, in the Côtes-d’Armor region. On the first ascent, Tour debutant Van der Poel accelerated clear in pursuit of time bonuses, but failed to carve out a significant gap and was pursued by the race leader, Julian Alaphilippe, as he reached the summit. “The first time I attacked to try to get the time bonuses, because I knew it was the only way to get the yellow jersey,” Van der Poel said, before explaining that after his first effort fell short, he realised that he had to attack on the second ascent, win the stage and get distance from Alaphilippe to claim the race lead. “I’m quite speechless that it worked out,” he said. “You can dream of a scenario like this, but to make it work is quite unbelievable. Sometimes my team believes in me more than I do myself.” On the approach to the second and final time up the Mûr, Ineos Grenadiers worked hard to control the race, but as the peloton turned left and began the 2km ascent to the finish, Geraint Thomas’s team was ruthlessly swept aside by attacks, first from Nairo Quintana, of Colombia, and then a flying Van der Poel, whose second attack proved far more telling than the first. As a tearful Van der Poel paid tribute to his grandfather, a hierarchy of sorts emerged, even after only two stages. While the defending champion, Tadej Pogacar, and his podium rival Primoz Roglic battled for bonuses in Van der Poel’s slipstream, the Ineos Grenadiers were left scratching their heads after a finish in which none of their four leaders managed to place in the top 10. It may be early days, but the time losses, in a race that could eventually be decided by seconds, are already looking significant. Only Richard Carapaz was within touching distance of Van der Poel, as Thomas came in 23 seconds behind the Dutchman, while Richie Porte lost a further 42 seconds and Tao Geoghegan Hart finished almost four minutes in arrears. But all of that was incidental to what was a moving day for those in France who’d grown up supporting Poulidor, or “Pou-Pou”, as he was known, and then, decades later, witnessed his grandson’s star rise so irresistibly to seize the yellow jersey that had always eluded his grandfather.