2017 Critérium du Dauphiné Stage 2 Results & Recap
Stage 2 of the 2017 Critérium du Dauphiné is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Arnaud Démare handily outsprinted Alexander Kristoff to take the stage two win at the Criterium du Dauphine today. The FDJ rider made it look easy, shooting up the right hand side of the road leaving his closest rivals to duke it out almost four bike lengths behind. Kristoff edged out Nacer Bouhanni on the line, leaving the Cofidis sprinter with third place.
After 171 km or racing, Thomas De Gendt safely rolled across the finishing line in Arlanc with the same time as the winners, keeping his 48 second lead in the overall classification safe for another stage.
“The whole team was riding for me the whole day and made a good effort to keep the jersey and keep the gap small in the breakaway,” De Gendt said. “They did a fantastic job. I hope I can keep this jersey after tomorrow because it’s nice to have the yellow.”
Today’s stage from Saint-Chamond to Arlanc featured a category 3 climb almost immediately after the flag dropped, helping the breakaway chances at solidifying a gap.
Mickaël Delage (FDJ), Koen Bouwman (LottoNL-Jumbo), Nate Brown (Cannondale-Drapac) and Romain Combaud (Delko Marseille Provence KTM) slid off the front on the Côte de Croix Blanche and quickly formed a three minute advantage on the peloton, which was led by Lotto Soudal.
As Brown was the best placed rider in this breakaway, 1’09” down on GC, De Gendt’s team kept a close watch on the four man break, keeping its advantage at around 3’30”. The quartet was reduced to three before the next climb, the Cat. two Col de Verrieres-en-Forez, when Mickaël Delage (FDJ) dropped out of the breakaway to save himself as a lead out rider for Démare.
The peloton passed through the feed zone at a leisurely pace, taking in food and drink before they tackled the Col de Verrières-en-Forez, allowing more time to separate the two groups while they climbed.
However, Astana amassed at the front and quickly ate away at the fragile lead, splitting the peloton and leaving a few off the top sprinters in trouble at the back, including Bryan Coquard.
When the gap was just 30 seconds, Astana’s pace launched Alexei Lutsenko (Astana) from the bunch and up with the leaders, who gradually worked back out to 1 minute 30 seconds with 60 kilometres left in the stage.
With Dimension Data at the helm, the race seemed determined to end as a bunch sprint. Lutsenko sensed the danger and attacked the leaders with 30 kilometers to go, gaining a max of 50 seconds inside 25 kilometres to go. The peloton finally reeled Lutsenko back in at 5 km remaining, and from there it was a battle for positioning as Sunweb, Direct Energie and Katusha fought for the front.
Katusha was the team to make sense of the hectic run in to Arlanc, but couldn’t seal the deal with Kristoff, who eventually finished second. Demare was just too powerful for the Norwegian on the day.
General Classification after stage 2: 1 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 08:30:47 | 2. Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R La Mondialeat at”48 | 3. Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates at 1’03
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