Criterium du Dauphine: Teuns wins stage 2

Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Merida) won stage 2 of the Critérium du Dauphiné, beating Guillaume Martin (Wanty-Group Gobert) in a two-up sprint. Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) took the sprint for third place, 13 seconds behind the two leaders, to secure himself some bonus seconds for the overall classification.

Teuns also moved into the race lead after stage 1 winner Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) was distanced from the main bunch on the final climb. He holds a three-second lead over Martin in the overall classification going into the third stage.

Martin and Teuns were part of a late move that surged clear with just over 30 kilometres to go after the remnants of the early breakaway were swept up by the peloton. The 12-rider group began to fracture under the pressure of the pace as they approached the final climb of the day. With just under 20 kilometres remaining, on the ascent of the Côte de Saint-Victor-sur-Arlanc, Martin attacked the leading group with only Teuns able to follow his move.

The pair never had a significant gap over the elite group of chasers behind, but it would prove to be enough for them to fight out the win between themselves. Teuns led Martin under the flamme rouge and through much of the final kilometre before Martin made his run for the line after the final corner. It looked like Martin had timed his sprint to perfection, but Teuns still had some gas in the tank and he edged out Martin on the line.

"This is a special one. I had to wait long. Almost 24 months to get the victory again and it's like a really nice victory and I'm super happy with it," a delighted Teuns said. "From the gun, there were some big names in the breakaway. Ineos did a really hard pace to control this breakaway and bring them back. Then, I saw that they were tired and there were some guys going and I just followed. I saw it was a possibility for a new breakaway and in the last climb, it was about making the difference.

"[Martin] was a good companion in the break. We were both the strongest on the steep climb and I was lucky to have him help in the break. Then it was man on man sprint and I'm super happy that I could win. It's a dream come true to win in the Dauphiné and I've won my first lion."

Behind Martin and Teuns, a battle between the overall contenders was unfolding. The final climb would prove just as explosive for the GC group, with riders spread up and down the second category ascent. Fuglsang, Chris Froome (Ineos), Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) were among those who surged clear on the steep climb.

Meanwhile, home hero Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) was left to chase with the help of Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) after getting dropped. They would soon have the help of Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo), Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) and a few others, but they were not able to make contact with the other contenders and gave away 31 seconds to them on the line.

How it happened

After a hilly start to the Critérium du Dauphiné, there would be a whole lot more climbing for the riders on day two. After clinging on over the multiple ascents to win on stage 1, Boasson Hagen started the day in the yellow jersey of race leader. He would face a stern enough test of his lead over the following four-second lead. Summer was still yet to arrive in the south of France and more cold, grey weather greeted the riders.

There was another major fight for a place in the breakaway and it would be some time before a group would finally snap the elastic. The move came in two parts with 14 riders eventually slipping up the road, forming an échappée royale. They were Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos), Jack Haig (Mitchelton-Scott), Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R-La Mondiale), Julian Alaphilippe, Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Emanuel Buchmann and Gregor Mühlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe), Gorka Izagirre (Astana), Ruben Fernandez (Movistar), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma), Carl Fredrik Hagen (Lotto Soudal), Alessandro De Marchi (CCC Team) and Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb).

The 14 became 13 when Kwiatkowski sat up following the ascent of the Cote de Moussages, and with that, the gap to the peloton began to grow. With Kwiatkowski back, Team Ineos set to keep the move at close quarters and the gap hovered around the minute mark. By the time the leaders reached the third climb of the day their gap had expanded to almost two minutes.

A king of the mountains at least year's Tour de France, Alaphilippe was eager to collect some mountains points and picked up top marks over the first five ascents, out of eight in total. With the gap heading back down towards the one-minute mark with a little under 90 kilometres remaining, the unity of the breakaway began to fracture with Cavagna attacking at the feed zone.

The group would eventually come back together before Izagirre, Dumoulin, Gaudu and Buchmann moved clear on the Côte de la Baraque with 53km remaining. De Marchi chased along for some time before eventually making contact to bring the leading group up to five, while the rest of the escapees were brought back to the peloton. De Marchi was the first to crack as the vastly reduced peloton kept closing in, but the remaining four would not last much longer. With 35 kilometres to go, it was time to sit up and accept the inevitable.

No sooner had the break been caught, the attacks began again with Serge Pauwels (CCC Team), lighting things up. Initially, 10 riders, including Pauwels, Martin, Teuns and Alexey Lutsenko, broke clear, with Philippe Gilbert (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Nils Politt (Katusha-Alpecin) joining the party a short while later.

Gilbert was keen to push the pace on, having started the day just four seconds behind Boasson Hagen in the overall standings. However, he could not hold on over the final climb as Martin and Theuns dropped the rest of the group. As the two leaders pushed on, the yellow jersey Boasson Hagen began to suffer. With still a kilometre to the top of the climb, he could not follow the main contenders any longer and began to slip back.

Boasson Hagen was not the only one to find himself in trouble, and as Pinot piled the pressure on with 17 kilometres to go, some of the GC favourites were distanced. Michael Woods (EF Education First) was the only one that could follow Pinot initially, with Froome forced to shut the gap down. In his wheel was Quintana, Fuglsang, and Adam Yates, while further down the road Bardet and Dan Martin were fighting to get back on. Chasing them were Porte, Kruijswijk and Tejay van Garderen (EF Education First).

Mikael Cherel, who had been in the break with Teuns, dropped back to help Bardet and his companions but he was unable to close the gap and soon dropped off. Meanwhile, in the first group of favourites, the attacks kept coming. Pinot and Fuglsang were the main protagonists with a number of others taking advantage. Fortunately for Froome, he had teammate Wout Poels in the group, who worked hard to close down each of the moves.

The disharmony worked well for Guillaume Martin and Teuns and they were able to hold onto their slim lead into the final kilometre. Martin made the first serious bid for the line, but Teuns was able to overhaul him on the slightly uphill run to the line. Fuglsang took the sprint for third and the final selection of bonus seconds, while the Bardet and Porte group gave away some 31 seconds on the line.

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