Critérium du Dauphiné 2015: Stage 2

Welcome to live coverage of the Critérium du Dauphiné stage 2 from Le Bourget-du-Lac to Villars-les-Dombes

Welcome to stage two of the Dauphiné. We're just moments away from the neutral start as the last of the riders sign on.

Today's stage is a challenging one to start with a first category climb in the first half but there is plenty of time for riders to chase on before the finish. Here's a look at the stage profile.

The riders are currently making their way through the neutral section and racing should be under way in the next five minutes.

Peter Kennaugh is in the leader's yellow jersey today after his late attack yesterday delivered him to the stage win. This is how the general classification looks after that win.

1 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Team Sky 3:06:41
2 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:00:06
3 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN - Qhubeka 0:00:08
4 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:12
5 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica GreenEdge
6 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
7 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Tinkoff-Saxo
8 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
9 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
10 Cyril Gautier (Fra) Team Europcar

@Lotto_Soudal Mon, 8th Jun 2015 09:36:19

The race start proper has been given and the riders are thrown straight into a second category climb.

@TeamMTNQhubeka Mon, 8th Jun 2015 09:41:09

Three riders have attacked including mountains jersey wearer Daniel Terklehaimanot. He wants another day in the jersey.

Teklehaimanot has gone away with Arnaud Coureille (FDJ), who started the move, and Perrig Quéméneur (Europcar). The trio have 1:15 on the bunch.

The peloton cross over the top of the Col du Chat 1:50 behind our three escapees. Teklahaimanot was the first man over to take full points.

1. Daniel Teklehaimanot, 5 points

2. Perrig Quéméneur, 3 points

3. Arnaud Courteille, 2 points

4. Filippo Pozzato, 1 point

That's one climb done and dusted and we've had less than 10 kilometres of racing. The three leaders have an advantage of 2:15 on the peloton.

@Cyclingnewsfeed Mon, 8th Jun 2015 10:02:19

156km remaining from 173km

As the riders come to the bottom of the decent the gap has grown to five minutes.

Teklehaimanot's performance yesterday was enough to put him into the polka dot jersey. It's the first time that the team have put themselves into a WorldTour jersey. Read what the Eritrean had to say here.

The riders are currently on the flat but they will start climbing again in about 20 kilometres. It's an unclassified climb and will prove to be just a warm-up ahead of the Col de Cuvéry, which comes almost immediately afterwards. The 8.7 kilometre climb averages 6.7 per cent with a section of nine per cent near the top.

After 22km of racing the gap to the escapees is 5:25.

139km remaining from 173km

The next time check sees the gap drastically cut down to just 3:25. The peloton want to make sure that these three don't get away and they could even catch them before the top of the next climb.

My apologies, the last time check we got was wrong. The three leaders have 5:15 on the peloton, with Team Sky leading the chase behind.

@dauphine Mon, 8th Jun 2015 10:34:41

The leaders are about to start climbing again on this small uncatergorised ascent. They have covered 39.7km during this first hour of racing.

There are blue skies for the riders today with a nice balmy temperature of 22 degrees. A good day for bike racing really.

Sky continue to work on the front. They're obviously working for Kennaugh in the yellow jersey but they will be trying to keep Chris Froome out of trouble too with the time trial coming tomorrow and the bigger mountain stages later in the week.

After 45km of racing the escapees have their largest gap of the day so far of 6:20 on the peloton. They've hit the top of this unclassified climb and will be descending straight to the foot of the first category Cuvéry.

The Dauphiné isn't the only racing big racing that has been going on this weekend. Last night Bradley Wiggins smashed the Hour Record and he's now calling for Tony Martin and Fabian Cancellara have a go at it.

116km remaining from 173km

After 50 kilometres the gap continues to grow. As they near the bottom of the main climb of the day they have 6:45 on the peloton.

@antmccrossan Mon, 8th Jun 2015 11:10:50

As the leaders start this climb we'll take a brief moment to take a closer look at our escapees.

First up is the mountains jersey Daniel Teklehaimanot. This is his second season with MTN-Qhubeka after spending two years at WorldTour level with Orica-GreenEdge. He was the first Eritrean to ride the Vuelta a Espana back in 2012 and could be the first to ride the Tour de France if he makes the final cut. His performances here today and yesterday will go a long way to helping him.

Teklehaimanot is a multiple African continental champion but he's still waiting for his first victory at WorldTour level.

Next of our three escapees is Perrig Quéméneur. The Frenchman has been with the Europcar team through its many guises since he turned professional in 2008 but is still waiting for his first professional victory. Like Teklehaimanot, he is fighting for a Tour de France spot. However there are only four spots left to fill after Europcar confirmed five of their riders already.

Last but not least is Arnaud Courteille. The 26-year-old has been a professional since 2011, spending his whole career with FDJ. A former under-23 French national champion, Courteille is riding the Dauphiné after completing the Giro d'Italia.

104km remaining from 173km

The escapees are still holding a decent advantage over the bunch. After just over 60km of racing they are 6:05 ahead of the peloton.

99km remaining from 173km

The leaders are about to crest the Cuvéry. It's the final climb of the day with the added bonus of lunch when they hit the top. From there it's a long downhill before a flat run-in to the line.

94km remaining from 173km

The average speed f the race has slowed somewhat with the ascent of the Culvéry. The riders averaged 34.3kph after two hours of racing.

As the riders get their lunch, the gap between the two groups has decreased. The three leaders have a 5:25 advantage over the peloton.

Confirmation of the results at the top of the Cuvéry shows that it was Teklehaimanot who went over the top first to add another 10 points to his lead in the mountains classification. His teammate Meintjes sneaked in to take some points in the peloton behind.

1. Teklehaimanot, 10 pts

2. Quemeneur, 8 pts

3. Courteille, 6 pts

4. Meintjes, 4 pts

5. Mate, 2 pts

6. Smukulis, 1 pt

After taking another load of points, Teklehaimanot now has 25 points in the KOM competition, with Quéméneur second on 11 points.

86km remaining from 173km

The gap is steadily coming down, as are the riders. As we hit the halfway point of this stage, the gap is now 4:25.

@Etixx_QuickStep Mon, 8th Jun 2015 12:15:17

The peloton continue to eat into the advantage of the escapees. They've brought it down to 3:45 with 81 kilometres remaining.

Cofidis have moved back to the head of the peloton. They've been quite active at the front today, obviously hoping they can keep Nacer Bouhanni in contention for the victory. Sky are also there helping them out.

There had been a crash in the peloton, Laurent Pichon (FDJ), Alessandro Vanotti (Astana) and Stephen Cummings (MTN-Qhubeka) were all involved.

Pichon has abandoned after getting involved in that crash.

68km remaining from 173km

Despite that incident, the peloton are still charging down the descent and they've brought the gap down to 2:25.

Across the pond and Lizzie Armistead is back in the World Cup leader's jersey after taking victory in the Philadelphia World Cup. Read what she had to say after her win yesterday.

60km remaining from 173km

A mixture of Giant-Alpecin and Lampre-Merida riders have come to the front of the peloton. They're bringing the gap down quickly and it's fallen to under 2 minutes for the first time.

@bikeradar Mon, 8th Jun 2015 12:48:09

Nelson Oliviera is the rider at the front of the bunch for Lampre-Merida, he looks fairly relaxed with his arms resting on the handlebars.

The riders have hit the bottom of the descent and it's a flat road to the finish now.

Vanoti paying a visit to the medial car after being involved in the accident that took out Pichon.

42km remaining from 173km

The escapees days are numbers out front as the gap continues to fall to 1:31.

We mentioned Wiggins breaking the Hour Record yesterday. Former record holder Eddy Merckx believes that Wiggins has put it out of reach for some time.

The advantage to the escapees came down to one minute before the peloton obviously decided to step off the gas a touch. The leaders now have 1:25 on the peloton.

@Movistar_Team Mon, 8th Jun 2015 13:21:02

30km remaining from 173km

Gatis Smukulis having a stretch at the back of the peloton. The pace isn't too high at the moment, but it will be ramping up soon. The gap is now just 1:15.

As the road straightens out, the peloton can almost see the escapees ahead of them. Not long until this comes back together, as BMC and Bora move to the front.

Today is likely to come down to a sprint finish. Lmapre)merida have been doing some work at the front of the bunch in the hope that Sacha Modolo can deliver the goods at the finish.

Lampre directeur sportif Philippe Mauduit spoke before the start. "We've given Sacha Modolo the first two stages of the Dauphiné as a goal after the Giro, then he'll have a quieter period. A sprint is never written in advance. We'll try to take him to the line in the best possible conditions. Logically, Bouhanni is the favorite. The finale suits a very fast sprinter like him. Modolo is faster when the race is harder. Today, it's flat at the end. But there's sometimes a difference between the logic and the reality.”

Crash in the middle of the peloton

21km remaining from 173km

The crash has taken out quite a few riders, although most of them are back up on their bikes. Joaquim Rodríguez looks like he was involved but he's back in the peloton.

1km remaining from 173km

Rodríguez is not in the peloton but a large chasing group and they are frantically chasing back on to the main group.

17km remaining from 173km

The chasing group have almost made it onto the peloton. Using the assistance of the neutral service car.

15km remaining from 173km

The break still have a 1:37 advantage as the peloton comes back together.

It's Cofidis at the front again with Lampre en-masse behind them. Modolo is in the green jersey today as he looks after it for Peter Kennaugh.

13km remaining from 173km

More teams are helping with the chase and it's paying off. The gap is tumbling at the moment and the three leaders have just 1:14

@Cyclingnewsfeed Mon, 8th Jun 2015 13:51:41

10km remaining from 173km

The gap is down to just 45 seconds.

Quéméneur pushes on in the break and the other two have to chase to keep up with him. The leading trio are looking pretty tired now.

Vincenzo Nibali, Chris Froome and Joaquim Rodríguez are all near the front of the peloton. They are trying to keep out of trouble.

7km remaining from 173km

The peloton has the escapees in their sights now with the gap coming down to less than 30 seconds.

The escapees have managed to stem the tide as they hit a tail win. With 5.5 to go the gap stands at 22 seconds.

4km remaining from 173km

Just 10 seconds for the three escapees but they are still trying their hardest to stay away.

3km remaining from 173km

The catch has been made

Sky now leading the way with Kennaugh in third wheel.

2km remaining from 173km

The sprinters teams are having to fight to push through the GC teams to get on the front of the peloton. Lampre and Cofidis make it thought again.

GreenEdge and MTN-Qhubeka move to the front of the peloton too.

It's a big wide road and the peloton in spread over all of it.

Crash involving Boeckmans and Kelderman at the side of the peloton.

Flamme rouge

MTN are on the front now

Bouhanni wins

Boasson Hagen led the sprint but he was no match for Bouhanni.

Peter Kennaugh keeps hold of the leader's jersey for another day. He's two seconds ahead of Sacha Modolo in the overall classification.

That's it from us today but go to our report for a full recap of today's action, plus results and photos.