Tour de France: Van der Poel holds off Pogačar to win rainy stage 2

BOULOGNE-SUR-MER, France (AP) — Dutch cyclist Mathieu van der Poel won the hilly second stage of the Tour de France on Sunday after holding off defending champion Tadej Pogačar and two-time winner Jonas Vingegaard in a sprint to the line.

Van der Poel took the race leader's yellow jersey from his Alpecin–Deceuninck teammate Jasper Philipsen in a second career stage victory on the Tour. Neither rider is considered an overall contender.

"It was super difficult, the finale was harder than I thought. But I was really motivated," Van der Poel said. "Finally, four years after my first (stage) win, it was about time I took a second one. It's also the second time I'm rewarded with the yellow jersey as well, so I guess it was worth the wait.”

He intends to wear yellow a little longer yet.

“I hope I can keep the jersey until the time trial (on Wednesday)," Van der Poel said "(After that) it will be very hard."

Stage 2 was delayed by about 15 minutes after team buses arrived late to their parking spots because of heavy morning rain. Fans lined the roads wearing raincoats and riders wore light jackets amid wet and blustery conditions on the slightly hilly 209-kilometer (130-mile) trek from Lauwin-Planque to Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France.

The longest trek of this year's race featured about 4 kilometers of climbing suited to allrounders like the three-time Paris-Roubaix classic winner Van der Poel and former Cyclo-cross star Wout van Aert.

Greasy roads increased the risk of spills and a strong headwind greeted riders approaching the finish as they took on the day's three consecutive climbs — short and sharp but very modest ones compared to the giant Alpine and Pyrenean ascents later in the three-week race.

None of the main Tour contenders could launch a decisive attack, although Vingegaard tried with 5 kilometers left.

Instead, it was Van der Poel — nicknamed “The Flying Dutchman” — who surged clear and then withstood Pogačar's late burst, having also beaten the Slovenian star at Paris-Roubaix in April.

Van der Poel crossed the line in 4 hours, 45 minutes, 41 seconds with Pogačar in second place and Vingegaard in third recording the same time.

Pogačar misjudged his attack, a rare mistake for him.

“Mathieu was stronger in the final sprint, so chapeau to him,” Pogačar said. "To be honest I messed up a little bit, because I got a bit scared to sprint against him and I waited too long on his wheel.”

In the overall standings, Pogačar is four seconds behind Van der Poel. Vingegaard is another two seconds back.

Four-time Spanish Vuelta winner Primož Roglič — the 2020 Tour runner-up from Slovenia — and double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel had both lost time on Saturday after being caught in a late crosswind.

They did not lose further time Sunday to Pogačar and Vingegaard, who enters this year’s Tour in better shape.

Last year, the Dane was barely recovered from a heavy race crash in Spain which left him with a collapsed lung, several broken ribs and a broken collarbone. He finished the Tour in second place but could not match Pogačar in big climbs.

The 30-year-old Van der Poel was born in Belgium and shot to fame as a multiple Cyclo-cross world champion before turning his sights to one day classics and stage racing.

Cycling runs in the family.

His father Adri was also a Cyclo-cross world champion and Van der Poel’s maternal grandfather was the late French cyclist Raymond Poulidor.

Poulidor took part in 14 Tours from 1962-76, finishing in second place overall three times and third five times. Nicknamed “Poupou” and “The Eternal Runner-up,” Poulidor was adored by French fans.

Stage 3 is a flat stage for sprinters, 178.3 kilometers from Valenciennes to the coastal city of Dunkerque.

This race is entirely in France, with no stages held abroad as in previous years, and ends July 27 in Paris.

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France's Mathieu Burgaudeau, left, and Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar ride during the second stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 209.1 kilometers (129.9 miles) with start in Lauwin-Planque and finish in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, Sunday, July 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Netherlands' Mathieu van der Poel, center, celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the second stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 209.1 kilometers (129.9 miles) with start in Lauwin-Planque and finish in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, Sunday, July 6, 2025. Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar finished second. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

Netherlands' Mathieu van der Poel celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the second stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 209.1 kilometers (129.9 miles) with start in Lauwin-Planque and finish in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, Sunday, July 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

Netherlands' Mathieu van der Poel, left, sprints next to Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar to cross the finish line during the second stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 209.1 kilometers (129.9 miles) with start in Lauwin-Planque and finish in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, Sunday, July 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Netherlands' Mathieu van der Poel wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey celebrates on the podium after winning the second stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 209.1 kilometers (129.9 miles) with start in Lauwin-Planque and finish in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, Sunday, July 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal agents carrying out immigration arrests in Minnesota's Twin Cities region already shaken by the fatal shooting of a woman rammed the door of one home Sunday and pushed their way inside, part of what the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest enforcement operation ever.

In a dramatic scene similar to those playing out across Minneapolis, agents captured a man in the home just minutes after pepper spraying protesters outside who had confronted the heavily armed federal agents. Along the residential street, protesters honked car horns, banged on drums and blew whistles in attempts to disrupt the operation.

Video of the clash taken by The Associated Press showed some agents pushing back protesters while a distraught woman later emerged from the house with a document that federal agents presented to arrest the man. Signed by an immigration officer, the document — unlike a warrant signed by a judge — does not authorize forced entry into a private residence. A warrant signed by an immigration officer only authorizes arrest in a public area.

Immigrant advocacy groups have conducted extensive “know-your-rights” campaigns urging people not to open their doors unless agents have a court order signed by a judge.

But within minutes of ramming the door in a neighborhood filled with single-family homes, the handcuffed man was led away.

More than 2,000 immigration arrests have been made in Minnesota since the enforcement operation began at the beginning of December, said Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News on Sunday that the administration would send additional federal agents to Minnesota to protect immigration officers and continue enforcement.

The Twin Cities — the latest target in President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign — is bracing for what is next after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by an immigration officer on Wednesday.

“We’re seeing a lot of immigration enforcement across Minneapolis and across the state, federal agents just swarming around our neighborhoods,” said Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis city councilmember. “They’ve definitely been out here.”

Chavez, the son of Mexican immigrants who represents an area with a growing immigrant population, said he is closely monitoring information from chat groups about where residents are seeing agents operating.

People holding whistles positioned themselves in freezing temperatures on street corners Sunday in the neighborhood where Good was killed, watching for any signs of federal agents.

More than 20,000 people have taken part in a variety of trainings to become “observers” of enforcement activities in Minnesota since the 2024 election, said Luis Argueta, a spokesperson for Unidos MN, a local human rights organization .

“It’s a role that people choose to take on voluntarily, because they choose to look out for their neighbors,” Argueta said.

The protests have been largely peaceful, but residents remained anxious. On Monday, Minneapolis public schools will start offering remote learning for the next month in response to concerns that children might feel unsafe venturing out while tensions remain high.

Many schools closed last week after Good’s shooting and the upheaval that followed.

While the enforcement activity continues, two of the state’s leading Democrats said that the investigation into Good's shooting death should not be overseen solely by the federal government.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said in separate interviews Sunday that state authorities should be included in the investigation because the federal government has already made clear what it believes happened.

“How can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiased investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw — what they think happened," Smith said on ABC’s "This Week."

The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.

Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defended the officer on Fox News Channel’s “The Sunday Briefing.”

"That law enforcement officer had milliseconds, if not short time to make a decision to save his life and his other fellow agents,” he said.

Lyons also said the administration’s enforcement operations in Minnesota wouldn't be needed “if local jurisdictions worked with us to turn over these criminally illegal aliens once they are already considered a public safety threat by the locals.”

The killing of Good by an ICE officer and the shooting of two people by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, led to dozens of protests in cities across the country over the weekend, including New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Oakland, California.

Contributing were Associated Press journalists Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis; Thomas Strong in Washington; Bill Barrow in Atlanta; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio.

A woman gets into an altercation with a federal immigration officer as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A federal immigration officer deploys pepper spray as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A family member, center, reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Bystanders are treated after being pepper sprayed as federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A family member reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Federal agents look on after detaining a person during a patrol in Minneapolis, Minn., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Bystanders react after a man was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)

People stand near a memorial at the site where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)

A man looks out of a car window after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Border Patrol agents detain a man, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

People shout toward Border Patrol agents making an arrest, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

Demonstrators protest outside the White House in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey holds a news conference on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)

Protesters react as they visit a makeshift memorial during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)