Critérium du Dauphiné: Bouhanni takes victory on stage 2

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Nacer Bouhanni sprinted to victory on the second stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné in Parc des Oiseaux Villars-les-Dombes on Monday. The Cofidis rider held off a charging Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R-La Mondiale) to take a clear win with Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) taking third.

"It’s all about my team they couldn’t have done more. I’m happy for everybody. I knew that I could trust my teammates and I just had to give it everything in the finish," Bouhanni said.

Edvald Boasson Hagen picked up the sprint after being led into the final kilometre by his MTN-Qhubeka teammates. The Norwegian had gone too early though and Bouhanni spotted a gap between Boasson Hagen and the chasing Modolo. The Frenchman made it through before the door was closed on him and immediately pulled out a gap.

Dumoulin put on a late charge down the left of the finishing straight but he was no match for Bouhanni and had to settle for second. The victory is Bouhanni’s first at the WorldTour level since moving to Cofidis at the start of this season.

Peter Kennaugh (Team Sky) remains in the leader’s jersey, two seconds ahead of Modolo.

How it happened

As soon as the flag dropped the riders were faced with the second-category Col du Chat, so it was no surprise to see polka dot jersey wearer Daniel Teklehaimanot (MTN-Qhubeka) in an early break. He went clear with Arnaud Coureille (FDJ), who started the move, and Perrig Quéméneur (Europcar), and swept up maximum points over the summit.

The trio then proceeded to extend their lead over the peloton, dragging it out to over five minutes by the time they reached the second, unclassified, climb of the day.

As they started the main feature of the stage, the first-category climb of the Col de Cuvéry, they had 6:45 but that was reduced by more than a minute by the time they had crested. Teklehaimanot was once again first over and picked up a further 10 points in the mountains classficiation.

As the peloton set about reeling in the escapees there was a crash with just under 80km remaining. Laurent Pichon (FDJ), Alessandro Vanotti (Astana) and Stephen Cummings (MTN-Qhubeka) were all involved, with Pichon forced to abandon the race.

As the road continued downhill the gap fell steadily, but there was another crash in the peloton, which had Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) and a few others frantically trying to get back on.

With 15km remaining the gap was down to 1:15, as Cofidis and Lampre-Merida made their presence felt at the front of the bunch, keen to avoid a repeat of yesterday’s breakaway victory.

The catch was made at 3km out and the general classification men made way for the sprinters’ teams. MTN-Qhubeka led Boasson Hagen into the final kilometre but the Norwegian jumped too soon. Bouhanni saw a gap and surged past Sacha Modolo and Boasson Hagen to win by a considerable margin.

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