Magnus Cort Nielsen won the second stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné. In a challenging ride, Bruno Armirail looked set to surprise from an early breakaway, but the Uno-X Dane sprinted past him in the final hundred meters. This victory marks the third consecutive win for Uno-X, following their wins on June 1 (Alexander Kristoff) and June 2 (Jonas Abrahamsen). Cort also became the new race leader.
The breakaway of the day formed early on. Starting from Gannat, Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale), Mathis Le Berre (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Jonas Gregaard (Lotto Dstny), Xandro Meurice (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Filippo Conca (Q36.5) broke away. Surprisingly, it was not the Lidl-Trek of GC leader Mads Pedersen, but BORA-hansgrohe (Primoz Roglic) and Israel-Premier Tech (Dylan Teuns) who started to pace the peloton.
The maximum advantage of the five men rose to over five minutes but stabilized around four minutes after the day's first climb. On the Cote de Fagot, Le Berre grabbed the maximum two points, before also claiming five points on the Col Saint-Thomas, taking him to nine points and putting him in the virtual polka dot jersey.
The status quo between the breakaway and the peloton remained unchanged with sixty kilometers to the finish. The leaders had a gap of a little more than four minutes, with Nico Denz and Mason Hollyman maintaining a steady pace on behalf of BORA and Israel. As the final fifty kilometers approached, the pace in the peloton seriously increased. BORA first reduced the gap to three minutes, before INEOS Grenadiers and Groupama-FDJ took over.
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Groupama-FDJ opens finale towards challenging final climb
On the Cote de Saint-Georges-en-Couzan, we could finally see the real differences. Antonio Tiberi – who finished fifth in the Giro d'Italia on behalf of Bahrain Victorious – was among those who dropped back. Quentin Pacher, on behalf of Groupama, reeled in the breakaway's lead to less than a minute. That was the signal for the breakaway to also accelerate. After Le Berre added another five points at the summit, the race moved quickly towards the final climb of the day, the Col de la Croix-Ladret. We even saw Uno-X daringly take the lead with fifteen kilometers to the line.
On the day's final climb, Armirail proved to be the strongest of the group of five. The Frenchman needed to move quickly, as the peloton was also starting to pick up the pace, in order to prevent a sprint finish. Aleksandr Vlasov attacked on behalf of BORA, and he was joined by Pavel Sivakov (UAE) and Sean Quinn (EF). This caused Pedersen to drop back, putting the yellow leader's jersey suddenly within reach. Meanwhile, Armirail impressively stayed ahead, with half a minute and four kilometers remaining. Pedersen struggled valiantly to catch up, while BORA aimed to keep the yellow jersey at bay, with Vlasov and Jai Hindley serving as luxury domestiques for Roglic.
It was grueling, but Armirail gritted his teeth and maintained a lead. The Frenchman seemed to have a chance of victory, but in the dense fog, the peloton surged forward. Uno-X launched Cort, who started early and eventually got to celebrate with a few bike length's lead. Roglic had to settle for second place and managed to pick up some bonus seconds.
Results stage 2 Critérium du Dauphiné 2024
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
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