Named the Côte de San Luca by Tour de France organizer ASO on Sunday, the 2-km climb was the first Grand Tour leg of the race since the 1984 Giro d'Italia.
Located 12 km from the finish in downtown Bologna, the climb was where Moreno Argentin finished third overall 40 years ago, behind Francesco Moser and Laurent Fignon.
In 2024, it was modern-day legend Tadej Pogachar who lit the fuse for the GC battle on the second day of the Tour de France, leading main rival Jonas Vingegaard into the yellow.
He dove head first on the steep uphill, leaving little reaction behind him.
"I had a really good attack and was happy to explode my rivals a bit," Pogachar said after the stage. Jonas was pretty fast on my wheels and really strong. We made it to the finish, but in the last kilometer Evenepoel and Calapaz also caught up to us." [The four finished together, 21 seconds ahead of a chase group that included GC contenders from the Tour de France such as Primoz Roglic, Enric Mas, Egan Bernal, and former yellow jersey rider Romain Bardet.
Pogachar inherited the maillot jaune from the French veteran.
After the finish, he spoke to Evenpole (now wearing the white coat as the best young rider) and asked if the Belgian had taken the lead, noting that he had "left a little gap in the end," and that countless media and podium duties, including the jersey, were on his rival's shoulders He was caught on camera attempting to push it to the ground.
Despite such exchanges, Pogachar and his team insisted that they were happy to be in first place for the first time since the race was held in the Alps two summers ago.
"It was a good stage. It feels good to be in yellow again. Last year I was so close and then it fell apart. It's good to be in yellow, even if the margin wasn't there. It confirms that I am strong," Pogachar said. Pogachar said.
Joxen Fernandez, sports manager of UAE Team Emirates, agreed with him.
"The Tour de France yellow jersey is always welcome. It's perfect." They are big names in the Tour de France, they are both winners of the last four Tour de France. We are here to win. It's a perfect war on the bike and Jonas is Jonas on the bike."
It's easy to get rid of Yellow in the next week if the team so desires. The rest of the Tour de France's Plan A does not include 19 days of podium ceremonies and press conferences.
But there was no such talk yet from the new leaders. Instead, the focus after the stage was to figure out how the competitors were doing.
"It was a moment to see the level of the other competitors. It's good to understand that."
"It was a good enough final to test the legs of me and the other guys," Pogachar concluded. Pogachar concluded: "The breakaway group was very good today. I didn't want to suffer at the front for the win because I knew my chances for a stage win were slim."
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