The second stage of the Tour de France usually is one of the nervous opening stages, where energy is high, everyone feels like having options of winning the stage and crashes are a common denominator.
Tour de France Stage 2 will never decide the Final Winner of the Tour, however it sometimes decides who will not win due to a bad crash or a mishap during the stage.
Stage 2 of Tour de France 2022 will be the second of the three stages taking place in Denmark this year. It will be a 199 km (124 miles) flat stage between Roskilde and Nyborg.
Statistics and data of Tour de France Stage 2
Tour de France Stage 2 Average Distance
To calculate the average distance of the Stage 2 of the TdF there is some extra information to be provided.
- 14 times Stage 2 was a Team Time Trial
- 4 times Stage 2 was divided in two splits 2a and 2b
The average distance in kilometers of the Stage 2, has been 212.77 kms (132.2 miles)
Otherwise, if we do not consider the Time Trials, as normally those stages are shorter, then stage 2 average distance increases to 235.5 km (146.3 miles)
If we analyze the details of Stage 2 2022 edition of “Le Tour” we observe the amount of kilometers is lower than average, only 199 km (124 miles). This is a trend that we will observe for most stages as the average distance of Tour de France stages has decreased in recent years.
Tour de France Stage 2 Evolution of kilometers
As we can see in the graph below the amount of kilometers has decreased enormously since the first editions of the Tour.
This evolution will be a constant across most stages (not only the second stage). The amount of kilometers has decreased significantly in Professional Cycling compared with the past.
- Longest 2nd Stage: 400 km (250 miles). 1906 edition
- Shortest 2nd Stage: 23 km (14 miles). 2011 edition
On the graph, the years with a two split stage both splits have been added together.
Tour de France Stage 2 types of stage
The second stage of the 2022 Tour de France will be a flat stage between Roskilde and Nyborg.
A Flat stage is the most common type of stage on the second round of the fight for the yellow jersey followed by Team Time Trials.
TdF Stage 2 Locations
There is a curious fact highlighted by the data that demonstrates that the second stage of Tour de France has a trend to start in the north of France.
The top 4 cities that have hosted the start of a second stage of the Tour de France are:
- Le Havre – 9 times
- Caen – 7 times
- Roubaix – 6 times
- Lille – 6 times
There is a clear winner as the location hosting the finish line of the second stage of Tour de France:.
- Cherbourg – 11 times
The podium of stage 2 finish line host cities is completed with:
- Metz – 6 times
- Charleville – 5 times
Tour de France Stage 2 winners
Winning the second stage of the Tour de France is a big relief for the teams of the winners as one of the big goal participating in “Le Tour” is winning a stage.
There are 13 cyclists that have repeated a victory at the Stage 2 of TdF with Romain Bellenger (FRA) in the lead with 4 victories between 1921 and 1925.
A big shout out for three riders that have won the second stage three times:
- Mario Cipollini (Italy)
- Hippolyte Aucouturier (France)
- André Darrigade (France)
The list of riders with two victories in the second stage are:
- Tom Steels (BEL)
- Robbie McEwen (AUS)
- René Privat (FRA)
- Peter Sagan (SVK)
- Mark Cavendish (GBR)
- Learco Guerra (ITA)
- Jules Masselis (BEL)
- François Faber (LUX)
- André Leducq (FRA)
The list with two victories has famous sprinters like Mark Cavendish and Robbie McEwen.
You can find interesting the stats and info about the Stage 1 of the Tour de France
Stage 2 Tour de France anecdotes and important days
This section of the page will be a live document where I will be adding information that I gather through the time or that I receive in the comments.
Stage 2 Tour de France 2017
On a rainy day between Germany and Belgium, starting in Düsseldorf and finishing in Liege, Taylor Phinney took part in a breakaway, but the race came back together shortly before the finish line for a bunch sprint. Marcel Kittel beat Arnaud Démare and André Greipel, with Cavendish fourth.