procycling

Stage 2

A stage pretty similar to the first one, with another 6 small climbs to provide a bit of animation for the mountain jersey: two 4^th^ cat and two 3^rd^ cat. (2 & 1 pts) in the beginning of the course, then one 2^nd^ cat. (5, 3, 2 & 1 pts) much later and one last 4^th^ cat. near the end.

As on many (all?) French races, the amount of points offered is meagre, so there is not much point in fighting if you cannot be first. Same goes for the points classification, as there is a single intermediate sprint per day and it only gives points for the first 3 riders: therefore, there cannot be even a small sprint from the peloton after a small breakaway has already gone through the sprint line.

That's a big difference from the Giro d'Italia which just ended, where points were given to many more riders.