This page contains the stage podium, the race story, GC implications after the stage, and per-rider performance. Read no further if you intend to watch this stage unspoiled.
On the 215.1 km queen stage, Benoît Cosnefroy (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) won the uphill sprint from a reduced group and took the overall lead from Julius Johansen, who was distanced on the climbs. Noa Isidore was second on the stage.
The 215.1 km Stage 2 from Aron to Pré-en-Pail-Saint-Samson was the hardest day of the race and the one that decided it. An early six-man breakaway controlled the first half before Lidl - Trek lifted the tempo and the peloton fractured on the repeated late climbs; the move was reeled in with roughly 66 km to go.
The finale became a war of attrition: Valentin Retailleau, then Marco Brenner and Louis Barré, and finally Aubin Sparfel inside the last 10 km all tried to go clear, but Sparfel was caught with about 5 km left. From the reduced front group Benoît Cosnefroy timed the uphill sprint perfectly, winning ahead of Decathlon's Noa Isidore and EF's Vincenzo Albanese.
The stakes were the overall: leader Julius Johansen lost contact on the climbs, and Cosnefroy's win — plus the splits behind him — handed UAE the leader's jersey with one flat stage to come.
Cosnefroy moved into the overall lead and would carry it to the finish. Behind him the GC tightened around the day's survivors: Thibaud Gruel into second at +7, Noa Isidore third at +12, Mads Pedersen fourth at +13 and Clément Izquierdo fifth at +15. Prologue winner Johansen dropped out of contention after being distanced on the climbs.
Lidl - Trek lit the fuse on this stage, raising the tempo that brought back the break and split the field on the climbs — a move that ultimately handed Cosnefroy the platform to win. Pedersen rode through safely in the reduced group and sat fourth overall at +13 afterwards, keeping his options open for the flat Stage 3 finale.