A powerful late acceleration netted Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep) stage 2 of the Critérium du Dauphiné, his first WorldTour win in 14 months, in an uphill bunch sprint.
Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) surged ahead on the grippy uphill finish at La Chase Dieu, but Alaphilippe timed his move perfectly to claim the victory by over a bikelength.
Carapaz settled for second, with Trek-Segafredo’s Natnael Tesfatsion in third.
After claiming fourth on the hilly 167.5-kilometre stage courtesy of an impressive leadout from teammate Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard, Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) remained on top of the overall classification.
After his 2023 Classics season got off to a poor start at Milan-San Remo then became a virtual write-off following a knee injury at the Tour of Flanders, Alaphilippe's double-armed 'calm down' gesture as he crossed the line spoke volumes about the importance of his first victory since February.
"It was a tough victory to get,” Alaphilippe said afterwards about the third Dauphiné stage win of his career and first since 2019. "These last few months have been tough, but we’ve worked hard and got back to where we wanted. It’s a relief.
"I was surprised to be up there because first we were working for [teammate] Ethan Vernon, but in the end it was too tough for him, so we could have gone with Florian Sénechal, but with a kilometre to go Florian told me he was already going all out. I had good legs, so I went for it instead."
Briefly on the attack in the first hour, Alaphilippe’s win represents a notable drop in pressure for the former double World Champion after his challenging start to 2023 and a 2022 campaign blighted by crashes, notably his nasty crash at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Following his first WorldTour victory since a stage of Itzulia-Basque Country in 2022, he’ll now look to see if he can double his victory tally in the days to come.
"Now the win’s in the bag, that’s great news," Alaphilippe said. "I can take the rest of the week a bit more calmly and see what more I can do.
How it unfolded
Stage 2’s breathtakingly fast start did not see any moves going clear for almost an hour, with the most noteworthy news coming when Steff Cras (TotalEnergies), key Jumbo-Visma racer and former Tour France podium finisher Stephen Kruijswijk, and Romain Combaud (DSM) all abandoned following a six-rider crash. The mini pile-up also involved Spanish champion Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers), back at his first race after breaking his collarbone in Strade Bianche.
However, when the break of the day finally went clear on the category- 3 Col de Toutée, it was an impressive one. Spearheaded by Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Dstny), taking part in his first race since fracturing his vertebrae in the Spring Classics, a solid quartet of WorldTour racers were also up the road alongside the Belgian: Andrea Piccolo (EF Education-EasyPost), Nans Peters (AG2R-Citroën), Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo) and Donavan Grondin (Arkéa-Samsic) were all present, together with Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X) and French climber Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies).
Such a powerful group was always unlikely to be allowed to make much headway, though, and so it proved. As the peloton crossed through the rolling hills of the Massif Centrale west of the River Loire, Jumbo-Visma kept the gap at around 90 seconds. Then the seven lost Grondin when a combination of a mechanical, followed by cramps and a bike change saw the Frenchman drop back.
However, Grondin at least had claimed enough points on the opening two classified climbs of the stage to move into the overall mountains classification lead before his day grew overly complicated.
On the first of two ascents of the cat-4 Côte des Guetes, Jumbo-Visma and Soudal-QuickStep, powered by the man nicknamed as the ‘French TGV’ Remi Cavagna, carved back the half-dozen riders' lead to under 40 seconds. Then as Campenaerts responded by piling on the pressure to try and keep the break alive, Latour was also in trouble.
Into the last 30 kilometres and some collective muscle-flexing by EF Education-EasyPost, Movistar and Intermarché-Circus-Wanty in the bunch all but sounded the death-knell for the five ahead, although Elissonde and Campenaerts opted to give it one last roll of the dice. A former Hour Record holder, Campenaerts made the most of his time trialling skills and classy bike position. Yet on the route’s mixture of smooth, broad country roads and slightly narrower, forest-lined lanes, the duo were almost constantly in the peloton’s sight.
As the natural climber, Elissonde moved to the front on the rolling approach to the Côte des Guetes, standing out of the saddle to keep the pace high and trying to wave Campenaerts through. A brutal acceleration by Jumbo-Visma instantly snuffed out the duo’s hopes, only to see Alpecin-Deceuninck Tobias Bayer become the quickest to counter-attack over the summit if the day’s final climb.
Bayer eked out a gap of eight seconds on the first part on technical, short descent, and pressed on the gradually rising road to the finish. Australian Harrison Sweeny (Lotto-Dstny) was next to give it a go at four kilometres from the finish as the bunch lined out notably on the ascent when Jumbo-Visma, led by Vingegaard in person for a second day running, returned to the fray.
Stage 1 winner Laporte was seemingly glued into a promising-looking third position, only for one EF Education rider to make a brief dash for the line at 700 meters to go then for another, Carapaz to make a late attempt to surprise the fastmen on the short finishing straight.
The Ecuadorian’s ambush quickly fizzled out and only served as a springboard, though, for Alaphilippe to shoot past, timing his move perfectly to claim France’s second win in two days - and one with a distinct whiff of personal redemption.
Results
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