Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) sprinted to victory on stage 2 of the Critérium du Dauphiné, showcasing his unbeatable turn of speed to win a hectic and fast sprint.
The Italian beat Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) into second, with Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) finishing third for the second day in a row.
After stage 1's surprise GC breakaway, it was back on script for the sprinters on Monday with the fast men contesting the finish in Issoire.
Romain Bardet (Picnic PostNL) attempted a solo move over the final climb with 18km, trying to win a stage in his final-ever road race, and he did get a 20-second gap but doing it alone was too much of an ask, and he was caught with 9km to go.
The GC teams Visma-Lease a Bike and UAE Team Emirates-XRG were the ones controlling proceedings for much of the finale, trying to keep Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar safe, but once the sprint teams came to the fore, a strong lead-out from Lidl-Trek delivered Milan into the position he needed to be in to gallop to the win.
Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) moves into the yellow jersey and overall race lead (Image credit: Getty Images)
This is Milan's first-ever win in France, and a key result before he heads to the Tour de France as Lidl-Trek's nominated sprinter.
"That was really tough," Milan said at the finish. "Our goal was to come here to keep building up the condition, and to do some nice results. Yesterday, I have to say, I was really suffering a lot, it was my first race for a long time.
"Today I also suffered a lot, and I was dropped at one point and I was really on the limit, but I have to say thanks to my teammates because they brought me back and guided me until the last metres, they really support me with everything they're doing so a massive thanks to them. I'm really happy, this brings a lot more to all of us."
Milan now leads the GC, equal on time with Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), whilst Mathieu van der Poel is third overall and Jonas Vingegaard dropped down to fifth overall, behind Fred Wright, returning things to normal after Sunday's GC surprise.
How it Unfolded
Paul Ourselin of Cofidis, in the -polka-dot Mountain Jersey, Victor Guernalec of Arkéa-BB Hotels, Christopher JuulJensen of Jayco AlUla and Chris Hamilton of Picnic-PostNL compete in the breakaway (Image credit: Getty Images)
Stage 2 of the Critérium du Dauphiné offered up 205km from Prémilhat to Issoire and a parcours littered with short climbs – including one with 18km to go – threatened to make the flat finish less straightforward for the sprinters. After the sprinters were denied by a Jonas Vingegaard-led attack on stage 1, with Tadej Pogačar winning the opener, it seemed possible that something of a repeat could happen on Monday.
Despite that, though, the first part of the stage was very uneventful, with just one rider getting in the breakaway, Cofidis' Paul Ourselin, who got away alone after just 5km. The peloton seemed happy to let the Frenchman go, and he quickly built up a gap of over six minutes in the first 35km.
Ourselin stayed away alone over the first quartet of climbs and through the intermediate sprint – the first 100km of the stage – but as the stage approached its second half, the peloton did start to up the pace and by the 100km to go mark the Frenchman's lead was down to two minutes.
As the peloton was drawing closer to the lone leader, with 90km to go a trio jumped across to Ourselin, with Chris Juul-Jensen (Jacyo AlUla), Romain Combaud (Picnic PostNL) and Victor Guernalec (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) bridging up to make it four in the lead, with a gap of around a minute. Four soon became two as Guernalec and Juul-Jensen dropped Combaud and Ourselin with 60km to go.
Over the penultimate climb, some teams started pushing it in the peloton to try and put the sprinters in trouble, and Jonathan Milan did start to struggle, forcing Lidl-Trek to work hard to bring him back to the bunch. Despite Alpecin-Deceuninck trying to take advantage of the situation, Milan did make it back on with around 45km to go as the race entered the finishing circuit.
Romain Bardet (Picnic-PostNL) made a solo move over the final climb (Image credit: Getty Images)
This injection of pace spelt the end for Guernalec and Juul-Jensen who were brought back before the first passage of the finish line, and the peloton settled slightly at this point. That's not to say it was calm, though, as it was still a big battle on the circuit with teams working hard to stay in formation and position. Not just the sprinters teams, either, as the GC squads were trying to keep their leaders safe too.
With 25km to go, the bunch was lined up in team formation approaching the final Côte de Nonette climb, only 1.8km at 5.9% but topping out just 18km from the finish, though it was still mainly Visma-Lease a Bike and UAE controlling things for Vingegaard and Pogačar.
Halfway up the climb, Romain Bardet launched an attack from the bunch, and went over the top of the climb 12 seconds clear of the peloton, and on the flat he drew this out to 20 seconds, with some hesitation in the bunch about who was going to chase. However, the hope was short-lived, and the Frenchman was swept up with 9km to go.
Racing on narrow, twisting roads, there was a lot of tension in the bunch, meaning it took a while for the sprint teams to come to the fore ahead of the GC teams, and it wasn't until the final 1500m when Lidl-Trek came into position to start the lead-out. A few sketchy corners threatened to cause chaos, but ultimately Trek remained controlled and held the lead of the race all the way to the finish, dropping Milan off with 400m to go to sprint to victory.
Matilda is an NCTJ-qualified journalist based in the UK who joined Cyclingnews in March 2025. Prior to that, she worked as the Racing News Editor at GCN, and extensively as a freelancer contributing to Cyclingnews, Cycling Weekly, Velo, Rouleur, Escape Collective, Red Bull and more. She has reported from many of the biggest events on the calendar, including the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France Femmes, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. She has particular experience and expertise in women's cycling, and women's sport in general. She is a graduate of modern languages and sports journalism.
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