Criterium du Dauphine: Herrada wins stage 2

Jesus Herrada (Movistar) surprised the overall contenders and some late attackers to win the uphill sprint at the end of stage two of the Criterium du Dauphine in Chalmazel – Jeansagnière, after the gradual 6.8km climb to the finish tested the form and lined out the riders.

Herrada timed his final surge perfectly. He opened a gap on the peloton pushing a big gear and then passed the late attackers on the outside of the final curve, just in time to hit the front and celebrate his victory.

Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal) hung on to finish a disappointed second place, with Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data) taking third place after both were in the late attack that went clear with 15km to go. They seemed set to fight for victory but Herrada passed them in sight of the finish line.

Chris Froome (Team Sky) made sure he was at the head of the group of overall contenders, finishing eighth. Provisional results showed that Froome gained four seconds on race leader Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) due to a gap in the line of riders at the finish but the final results cancelled any gain, leaving Froome third overall at 13 seconds, with Richie Porte (BMC) second at six seconds.

The big losers of the day were Frenchmen Romain Bardet and Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R-La Mondiale). They tangled and crashed in the heat of the finale and Bardet lost 45 seconds despite chasing hard.

Herrada was overjoyed with his stage victory.

"I'm really happy," Herrada said after celebrating the biggest win of his six-year career with Movistar.

"I tried to keep my strength for the final, I knew there would be this kind of sprint, on a climb that suits me. Therefore I remained calm until the last 500 metres. First Dani Moreno attacked then I saw that his move wouldn’t work, so I made my acceleration."

"The team has handled the situation very well, executing our plan, with Fran (Ventoso) and Marc (Soler), Antonio (Pedrero) giving me a big hand helping hand early on before Ruben (Fernandez) gave his all and then especially with that final surge by Dayer (Quintana) that me up."

How it happened

After heading west to the Rhone valley on Monday’s stage, the Critérium du Dauphiné peloton headed east back towards the Alps for the 168km second stage to Chalmazel - Jeansagnière.

The hilly stage and 6.8km climb to the finish meant the day was one for the overall contenders and fast climbers, giving the sprinters a quiet day in the peloton and a chance to talk over the clashes in the sprint won by Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis).

The Tinkoff team controlled the early attacks but then Daniel Teklehaimanot (Dimension Data) jumped away on the Col de Durbize - the first categories climb of the day. He was soon joined by Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), Alexis Gougeard (AG2R-La Mondiale), Bartosz Huzarski (Bora-Argon 18), Jack Bauer (Cannondale) and Lilian Calméjane (Direct Energie). The peloton let them go and so the break of the day was away up the road.

The six opened a gap but Lutsenko was soon in trouble and dropped back to the peloton. Huzarski became the virtual race leader as the gap touched three minutes. Teklehaimanot was first over the Col de la Croix Nicelle, collecting further points as he chased the lead in the climber’s competition that he won in 2015. Behind Team Sky joined Tinkoff to help chase the attack, perhaps understanding it would not be east to pull back five strong riders. Despite the help, the peloton eased mid-stage after the feed zone, with the break extending their lead up to 5:40.

However it was not enough and the gap began to fall consistently when the constant gradient up to the finish began to bite.

With 30km to go the Etixx-QuickStep team also moved to the front to help the chase of the five breakaways. The gap fell quickly, with the sprinters easing up at the 20km to go make after carefully calculating the time cut and their effort to make it to the finish in time.

Up front Gougeard and Huzarski went clear but the gap continued to fall as Tony Martin some big turns on the front for Etixx-QuickStep. Gougeard eventually kicked clear alone in pursuit of victory, showing his usual fighting and adventurous spirit, as former world champion Michel Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) floated off the front of the peloton, without sparking a real counter attack. He caught the remain of the break but was in turn caught by Fabrice Jeandesboz (Direct Energie) and Serge Pauwels (Dimension Data) Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal) over the top of the Côte de Saint-Georges-en-Couzan climb, as they chased stage victory. Kwiatkowski soon paid for his effort was dropped but the others pushed on.

The second step of the two-climb finale saw Gougeard caught as the peloton hesitated in its pursuit of the attackers. Pauwels was strong and generous, helping them stay clear but an attack by Mikel Landa (Team Sky) and then other surges brought the gap down. Sergio Henao (Sky) and Daniel Navarro (Cofidis) punch their way clear of the yellow jersey peloton but could not across the gap. However the lead riders were now in sight and Movistar took control, with Dani Moreno going across the gap and then Navarro making his powerful, winning move.

Wednesday’s 187km third stage from Boen-sur-Lignon to Tournon-sur-Rhone is another hilly affair, with the decisive mountain stages coming later in the week.

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