The sprinters took their revenge. After being trapped on Sunday with the Tadej Pogacar surprise victory during the 1st stage between Domérat and Montluçoneverything came back to normal with the victory of the Italian Jonathan Milan, who offers his 22nd career victory.
In this 77th edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné, the second stage disputed this Monday of Pentecost, between Prémilhat and Issoire, logically ended on a massive sprint.
On a course of almost 205 km with a relatively flat profilethe sprinters have resumed power.
Yet the race begins with the breakaway of Paul Ourselin, the French who wears the polka dot jersey. Ourselin will bring his advance up to 6′30 on the peloton. The Frenchman holds for a hundred kilometers before being joined by three runners: Romain Combaud, Chris Juul-Jeansen and Victor Guernalec.
This quartet has 1 strike on the peloton up to 60 km from the finish. The Danish Juul-Jeansen and Guernalec drop the other two French Onselin and Combaud at the top of the biggest difficulty of the day, the coast of the Château de Buron.
The peloton absorbs the duo just over 40 km from the finish before the first visit to Issoire. Everything is finally in place for a sprint, even the Italian Jonathan Milan, one of the favorite sprinters, who was won and counted up to 50 seconds late. But his Lidl-Trek teammates put themselves at his service to bring him back.
On the last difficulty, the Nonette coast, the regional stage, Romain Bardet, native of Brioude, attacks and resists for ten kilometers before being joined. The continuation comes down to a big job of the runners of Lidl-Trek who put their sprint in an ideal position, Jonathan Milan.
This Tuesday, the third stage will lead the runners from Brioude to Charantonnay (207.2 km). The general arrival is scheduled for Sunday with an 8th stage between Val-d’Arc and the Mont-Cenis massif.
