As it happened: Breakaway succeeds for second day in a row at Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes - Critérium du Dauphiné stage 2

Bonjour and welcome to live updates of the second stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, a race formally known as the Critérium du Dauphiné.

Today's stage is the longest of the race by about 30km with the riders taking on a massive 234.3km over very lumpy terrain. If on top form, we would expect to see riders like Wout Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Dorian Godon (Netcompany-Ineos) to be fighting for the win, but where are their legs at as they build up for the Tour de France?

The neutralised start is in about 10 minutes for the riders. They have completed sign on and team presentations with the usual interviews and will be beginning to go to the start in Saint-Martin-Le-Vinoux.

Before we launch further into the stage today, shall we have a look back at the fantastic racing of stage one? And what a stage it was for Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) who took the stage and all four jerseys in the process. A dream moment for the rider who's hometown was just about an hour from yesterday's finish.

>>> Critérium du Dauphiné: Frenchman Alex Baudin survives solo from early breakaway for biggest win of his career and yellow jersey on stage 1

After the stage, Baudin was over the moon. "I cannot describe the feeling right now. I don't think I realise it yet; it's just amazing to win here and with my family here. One hour from home, it's just crazy," said Baudin.

"I hope I can carry this confidence and shape into the Tour de France in July. Of course, I'll want to defend the jersey as long as possible. It's not going to be easy tomorrow with this super long stage, but a yellow jersey you have to defend it, so we're going to do everything."

The GC riders were a bit split up in the end as well with the likes of Ben Tulett (Visma-Lease a Bike), Kevin Vauquelin (Netcompany-Ineos) and Oscar Onley (Netcompany-Ineos) being part of a 10 man group that gained 12" on all the other major GC rivals.

The lack of bonus seconds meant that Onley could give his all in the final kilometres to make sure they kept the gap without worrying that rivals in the group would take the bonuses on the line. They are all at 32" from Baudin, aside from Bruno Armirail (Visma-Lease a Bike) who is at 34".

The other GC riders are all at 44" with the biggest losers on the day being Jørgen Nordhagen (Visma-Lease a Bike) losing 1'04", Carlos Rodríguez (Netcompany-Ineos) losing 1'46" and winner in 2020 Dani Martínez (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) who lost 2'53". Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies) also lost time on his birthday after a very poorly timed puncture meant he lost 12'44".

Neutral start

The riders have rolled out and are now in the neutral zone. It is an extremely long 11.5km today! Making the stage 245.8km when you add the neutral.

Godon thinks that he has a good chance in today's stage and describes the day as a Milan-San Remo in Grenoble. Will the French champion make it two French wins in a row? His form this year would suggest it is definitely possible with seven victories across the season so far as well as multiple top placings.

Baudin may own all the jerseys, but he can only wear one. He is in yellow. In the white best young riders jersey it is Leo Bisiaux (Decathlon-CMA CGM), in the blue and white polka dot KOM jersey it is Sergio Samitier (Cofidis), and in the green points jersey it is second place Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Premier Tech) who was very impressive in yesterday's finale.

There were four DNFs yesterday:

Matthew Riccitello (Decathlon-CMA CGM)
Brady Gilmore (NSN)
Rotem Tene (NSN)
Juan Martinez (Picnic-PostNL)

And one rider over the time limit:

Florian Kajamini (XDS-Astana)

Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) made the time cut yesterday by just NINE seconds.

234.3km to go

Racing begins on the second stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes with 3685 metres of elevation gain ahead of the riders.

The first attacks come with six riders going clear from the flag drop but they are quickly brough back. Four riders launch over the top.

Attack

Anton Charmig (UXM)
Alex Diaz (CJR)
Benjamin Thomas (COF)
Baptiste Veistroffer (LOI)
Nadav Raisburg (NSN)
Henri-François Renard-Haquin (TPP)

The six riders go clear and get a small gap of 15" on the peloton.

The most dangerous riders in GC are Charmig, Thomas and Diaz all on 15'04" behind Baudin.

More attacks come from the peloton as the fight to form the break is, once again, fierce.

The counter attacks continue but as they fail the pace stalls each time and this has allowed the leading six riders to extend their gap to 35" on the bunch.

Counter attack

Michael Matthews (JAY)
Martin Svrček (SOQ)
Callum Thornley (RBH)
Gal Glivar (APT)
Georffrey Bouchard (TEN)
Matteo Trentin (TUD)

They are at 40" from the leaders with the peloton a further 15" behind them.

The break are still pushing hard and have extended their gap on the chasers to 45" and 1'02" to the peloton.

The chase group has been caught as they head onto the first climb of the day, the 7.9km Col de Chatain which has an average gradient of 5.7%.

Meanwhile, riders are being dropped from the peloton.

Phil Bauhaus (TBV)
Roel van Sintmaartensdijk (LOI)
Matevž Govekar (TBV)

Among others. While Edoardo Affini (TVL) has a mechanical.

Attack

Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies)

The Frenchman who finished 10th at last year's Tour de France lost a huge amount of time yesterday thanks to a badly timed puncture. But now he can go for stages and he is starting here with this move. He is currently solo at 45" from the leaders.

Veistroffer has been distanced by the break. The big Frenchman has a large frame to haul over these mountains and can't quite keep the pace for the moment.

210km to go

Break:

Anton Charmig (UXM)
Alex Diaz (CJR)
Benjamin Thomas (COF)
Nadav Raisburg (NSN)
Henri-François Renard-Haquin (TPP)

Chase +10"

Baptiste Veistroffer (LOI)

Chase +30"

Jordan Jegat (TEN)

Peloton +50"

Counter attack

Raul Garcia Pierna (MOV)
Clement Braz Afonso (GFC)
Vlad Van Mechelen (TBV)

They quickly bridge to Jegat who has also caught Veistroffer. They are 30" back on the leaders with the peloton sitting up and are now at 2'00".

João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) continues to struggle through the early stages of the race and is out of the back of the peloton again.

KOM (Col de Chatain)

1. Thomas (COF) 5pts
2. Charmig (UXM) 3pts
3. Raisberg (NSN) 2pts
4. Renard-Haquin (TPP) 1pt

The chasing group of five riders are still at around 30" from the five man leading group after the first climb.

They have some undulating terrain to tackle and then it is onto the second climb, the 2.8km Col de la Croix de Toutes Aures with an average of 6.1%. It is actually longer than that, the KOM line isn't at the top, for some reason.

200km to go

Break:

Anton Charmig (UXM)
Alex Diaz (CJR)
Benjamin Thomas (COF)
Nadav Raisburg (NSN)
Henri-François Renard-Haquin (TPP)

Chase +30"

Baptiste Veistroffer (LOI)
Jordan Jegat (TEN)
Raul Garcia Pierna (MOV)
Clement Braz Afonso (GFC)
Vlad Van Mechelen (TBV)

Peloton +5'40"

The peloton have well and truly let the riders up the road go. 10 riders are clear split in half with 30" splitting the two groups of five. The peloton is now at 5'40".

The leaders start the Col de la Croix de Toutes Aures.

The chasing group are finally starting to close the gap to the leaders with it now dropping to 20".

NOw just 10" splitting the groups of the Col de la Croix de Toutes Aures.

The chase group joins the leaders as they go over the top of the Col de la Croix de Toutes Aures making it a lead group of 10 riders.

KOM (Col de la Croix de Toutes Aures)

1. Thomas (COF) 2pts
2. Diaz (CJR) 1pt

Thomas is now on 7 points in the KOM classification. He is 5th in the standings and needed another 7 points to draw level with Baudin. The next climb has a max of 5 points available.

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>>> More unreleased bikes than ever before in tech rehearsal for the Tour de France – Mega Dauphiné tech gallery

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The gap between the break and peloton has come down slightly to 5'10". The peloton do need to be careful as Clement Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ United) is sat at 5'49" in GC.

Almeida and co have ridden the descent of the Col de la Croix de Toutes Aures very well and have rejoined the peloton again. The race is now split into the 10 man break and the peloton, who are 5'45" further back on the course.

It was a tough return to racing for Wout Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) yesterday after the Belgian star crashed in training while out on his TT bike...

>>> 'I wasn't feeling great' - pre-race training crash and lack of form sees tough return for Wout van Aert at Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

180km to go

EF Education-EasyPost unsurprisingly lead the peloton for race leader, Baudin. Behind them in the line is Decathlon-CMA CGM then UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Visma-Lease a Bike. It is as you would expect in the bunch who are 5'25" behind the 10 man break.

The riders now have a pretty long stretch of valley road before heading onto the third climb of the day.

The break extend their advantage on the flatter terrain and drag their gap out to 6'10" over the peloton with Braz Afonso now the virtual race leader.

Crash

Nicola Conci (XDS-Astana)

The Italian is quick to get back on the bike and riding, though.

There was a lot of excited rumours whizzing around the Belgian cycling media when Remco Evenepoel's bike was spotted at this race while he wasn't on the startlist to race. Was the TT world champion about to pull another surprise on the media? No, he wasn't. Here is why his bike was there, it is a logistical reason...

>>> Why Remco Evenepoel's bike is at the Critérium du Dauphiné, but he isn't

160km to go

Into the final 100 miles of the stage and the break are still increasing their gap on the peloton with the time gap now sat at 6'20".

A big chunk of time has been sliced off the break's lead with the gap down to 5'50" with 150km to go.

After two hours of racing the average speed is at a frighteningly fast 40.3kph!

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>>> Former French star Thibaut Pinot offers free stay at his farm to celebrate 2026 Tour de France stage passing through home village

After a brief dive in time gap, the break have got it back to 6'00" again.

The peloton seem pretty happy with the time gap where it is. Maybe in about 20 or 30 kilometres time we could see a team like Netcompany-Ineos come to the front to try and bring the gap down to go for the stage win with Godon. That said, they have Onley and Vauquelin very well places in GC.

The riders start to climb some foothills before heading onto the third categorised climb of the day, the 10.9km Col Robert Marchand that has an average gradient of 4.4%.

As the road goes upwards the time gap drops downward t0 5'40".

Braz Afonso clings onto the virtual lead by 5"!

Braz Afonso is no longer virtual leader as the time gap drops to 5'30".

Crash

Henri-François Renard-Haquin (Picnic-PostNL)

The French rider in the break goes down but is back riding again and quickly rejoins the breakaway.

The peloton are steadily upping the tempo and are now 5'30" behind the break.

The riders are now on the Col Robert Marchand.

A special day for Baudin to be in yellow for the longest stage of the race.

It has been a tough month for Almeida who missed out on his Giro ride due to illness and now can't see how he will make the Tour team as he struggles through the race here. La Vuelta is now the Portuguese rider's main goal this season...

>>> 'It's been ups and downs for me' - João Almeida struggles on return to racing, convinced he is not ready to ride Tour de France

Clement Braz Afonso is back into the virtual lead with the gap going back to 5'40".

It has started raining.

Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) was left frustrated after he lost 12" to Netcompany-Ineos rivals Onley and Vauquelin, despite having teammates Tulett and Armirail in that group.

>>> 'You can't follow everyone' – Matteo Jorgenson not best pleased after shedding 12 seconds to GC rivals in Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes opener

110km to go

The gap is starting to go up again, 5'45" now splits the break and bunch.

The average speed after three hours of racing is an amazing 40.5kph. Considering they have done Almost 2000 metres of elevation gain in that time.

The break are 1km from the top of the Col Robert Marchand. There are 5, 3, 2 and 1 points available.

Renard-Haquin has been receiving treatment at the doctors car after his crash in the break.

KOM (Col Robert Marchand)

1. Thomas (COF) 5pts
2. Braz Afonso (GFC) 3pts
3. Raisberg (NSN) 2pts
4. Jegat (TEN) 1pt

Thomas is now 2 points off levelling up on points with Baudin while Braz Afonso moves up to joint third on 11 points, just three points off Baudin.

The riders, once again, continue climbing after the KOM point. But once they crest the climb they have a brief descent and then it is the intermediate sprint in Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid where 10, 6 and 4 points are available.

100km to go

The riders have been flying along today and are already within 100km to the finish. The gap has restabilised at 5'45" between the break and peloton as the race looks pretty calm and under control.

Abandons

Roel van Sintmaartensdijk (Lotto-Intermarché)
Gorka Sorrarain (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA)

The break are about to cross the line at Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid for the intermediate sprint.

The gap goes back out to 6'00" for the break. Can they start getting excited for a possible second breakaway win in a row?

Intermediate Sprint (Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid)

1. Raisberg (NSN) 10pts
2. Jegat (TEN) 6pts
3. Diaz (CJR) 4pts

The gap continues growing and is now at 6'13".

Raisberg has won the intermediate sprint two days running and now leads the points classification by 5 points over Baudin.

From now on, the race is constantly up and down. Hardly any flat roads for the rest of the stage as the rain is pouring down on the riders.

EF Education-EasyPost are riding hard in the peloton but they still have the gap at around six minutes. They only really need to take 30" off the time gap to keep the yellow jersey.

Thomas and Van Mechelen tried an attack in the break but didn't get a gap.

The rain is falling and EF Education-EasyPost are working hard to keen the gap to the break manageable.

The gap is starting to drop dramatically with the gap now at 5'00".

Godon and a few other riders have been caught out in a split on a descent. The French national champion is one of the big favourites for today but, as he got a rain jacket, he has lost contact with a few others.

Godon actually looks like he is struggling today. He got back on but is immediately out of the back again.

After four hours of racing the average speed is still 40kph. Incredible pace after 2800 metres of elevation.

The riders are now back on dry roads with the clouds starting to break up.

Bike change

Alex Diaz (CJR)

The Spaniard in the break should get back in easily.

50km to go

The break have stabilised the gap to the peloton at 4'46".

Attack

Veistroffer (LOI)
Braz Afonso (GFC)

The French duo go clear with little reaction from the rest of the break.

40km to go

Veistroffer and Braz Afonso are riding hard and have got 15" on the rest of the original break with 5'10" to the peloton.

Bike change

Ben Tulett (Visma-Lease a Bike)

He gets that change after a puncture.

The riders are about to start the penultimate climb of the day, the 4.2km long Côte des Baraques with the average at 6.6%.

In the peloton, things have changed. Decathlon-CMA CGM, Visma-Lease a Bike and UAE Team Emirates-XRG lead the way with the gap to the break growing.

Veistroffer and Braz Afonso start the Côte des Baraques.

Thomas attacks the chase but he is followed by everyone.

Braz Afonso starting to gap Veistroffer on the climb, which isn't too surprising.

Attack in chase

Raul Garcia Pierna (MOV)
Vlad Van Mechelen (TBV)

They're looking to bridge the gap of 27" to Braz Afonso who has now dropped Veistroffer.

Veistroffer caught and dropped by Garcia Pierna and Van Mechelen.

The peloton have fought hard to get onto the climb and now seem very relaxed with UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Alpecin-Premier Tech leading the way at 5'36".

Braz Afonso goes over the climb and takes the virtual lead in the KOM classification.

30km to go

Braz Afonso has 20" on the Garcia Pierna and Van Mechelen group then a firther 5" to the group of Thomas, Charmig, Renard-Haquin and Jegat with Veistroffer further back. The peloton now at 5'23".

Braz Afonso could see Garcia Pierna and Van Mechelen and decided to wait. They are now working together but the four chasers of Charmig, Jegat, Renard-Haquin and Thomas are just 11" back.

The leading trio only have 8" on the four chasers. It is so tight on the now dry roads.

It is extremely close for the two groups but it does look like we will get a seven man group before final categorised climb of the day, the Côte de Saint-Vidal.

Charmig puts in a big effort on a descent to shut the gap and that brings the groups together with Charmig immediately attacking. Thomas goes through the group to bring him back and now they settle into working.

Just under 5 minutes back is the peloton led by Ben Healy for his EF Education-EasyPost leader Baudin with two other riders with Baudin including Sean Quinn.

17km to go:

Clement Braz Afonso (GFC)
Raul Garcia Pierna (MOV)
Vlad Van Mechelen (TBV)
Anton Charmig (UXM)
Benjamin Thomas (COF)
Henri-François Renard-Haquin (TPP)
Jordan Jegat (TEN)

Peloton +4'38"

Netcompany-Ineos and Uno-X Mobility hit the front of the peloton are are looking very aggresive as Diaz is caught from the break. Decathlon-CMA CGM and UAE Team Emirates-XRG take over to try and calm things down.

Healy returns to the front to work for Baudin. Lidl-Trek also moves up.

Thomas pushing clear on the descent to get a head start on the Côte de Saint-Vidal. The Cofidis rider is flying down the descent with Charmig, another superb descender, following with the others being gapped.

Onto the final climb, Côte de Saint-Vidal 2km at 7.4% with Charmig, Braz Afonso and Thomas getting a small gap. Thomas does quickly get dropped, though.

Garcia Pierna goes across and bridges very well to Charmig and Braz Afonso.

Interesting that Jegat isn't able to follow these moves but he is still with Thomas, Renard-Haquin and Van Mechelen.

Van Mechelen is bridging to the leaders as well. An absolutely superb ride by him. He probably has the fastest sprint.

500 metres from the top of the Côte de Saint-Vidal and Van Mechelen is about to make the catch with Renard-Haquin also coming across as Thomas and Jegat struggling.

Attack

Anton Charmig (UXM)

The Dane gets a gap and Garcia Pierna goes after him with Braz Afonso, but neither can close the gap and Charmig is kicking clear.

Charmig goes over the top of the Côte de Saint-Vidal as Braz Afonso gaps Garcia Pierna.

Renard-Haquin joins Van Mechelen in the chae, as well.

Attack in peloton

Santiago Buitrago (TBV)
With two Picnic-PostNL riders.

They are joined by a few other riders too as the peloton is getting very active.

10km to go

Charmig has 10" on Braz Afonso and Garcia Pierna. It is 3'13" back to the peloton.

Decathlon-CMA CGM are closing this attack down as they go over the top of the climb, but interesting tactics as they are only riding for time and some of the riders involved aren't involved in the GC.

5km to go

Anton Charmig is flying now and he has 25" on the chasers.

Van Mechelen and Renard-Haquin rejoin Braz Afonso and Garcia Pierna as they are 30" back on Charmig.

4km to go for the Danish rider.

In the peloton, Lidl-Trek have taken control of the pacing.

2km to go for Charmig and he is riding to his first WorldTour win in the beautiful Le Puy-en-Velay.

Flamme Rouge!

1000 metres remain for Charmig with 40" back to the chasers and he knows he's got it. A huge smile as he punches the air.

500 metres to go as Raul Garcia Pierna attacks the chase group but it will come down to a four-up sprint for second.

Anton Charmig wins stage 2 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes 2026!

Henri-François Renard-Haquin takes second on the day ahead of Vlad Van Mechelen, Raul Garcia Pierna and Clement Braz Afonso.

Peloton comes to the line led in by Finn Fisher-Black (RBH).

Bike change

Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek)

He was caught inside the final kilometre so should get the same time as the peloton.

It was an amazing performance by Anton Charmig and he makes it two from two for the breakaway...

>>> Critérium du Dauphiné: Another successful breakaway as Anthon Charmig wins stage 2

A very special moment for Charmig winning the longest stage of this race since 2003.

Alex Baudin's dream race continues as he keeps yellow for another day with the brutal team time trial to come tomorrow.

Thanks to him winning the intermediate sprint on stages 1 and 2, Nadav Raisberg takes the points jersey into tomorrow.

Clement Braz Afonso goes into the polka dot jersey after a second day in the breakaway. He also takes the combativity prize on the day.

Alex Baudin keeps the best young rider's white jersey as well as yellow, holding onto two of the four jerseys he took yesterday.

And that brings our live updates of stage 2 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes/Critérium du Dauphiné to a close. Make sure to keep an eye out for all the latest reactions, news and analysis on the home page as well as making sure you join us on Cyclingnews for stage 3. But, for now, au revoir and have a lovely rest of your day.