Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) won stage 2 of the Critérium du Dauphiné on a mist-shrouded Col de la Loge after lone escapee Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-AG2R) was swept up within sight of the finish line.
Cort opened his effort from distance to pass Armirail and hold off Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe), who took second place, while Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) came home in third ahead of Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) and Oier Lazkano (Movistar).
Cort also took the yellow jersey from his compatriot Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), who hung in gamely on the tough finale before he was eventually distanced on the upper reaches of the day’s last classified climb.
While the terrain seemed to lend itself to a reduced bunch finish, Armirail threatened to pull off a remarkable heist after his determined attack from the day’s early break near the summit of the Col de la Croix Ladret.
At that point, with a shade under 10km remaining, the five-man move had a lead of 40 seconds and they looked doomed to be reeled in by the peloton.
The odds began to tip back in Armirail’s favour, however, after he crested the top of the climb with nine kilometres remaining and carried a lead of half a minute into the shallow drag towards the finish.
Bora-Hansgrohe and Israel Premier Tech were prominent in leading the pursuit in those final kilometres but they were struggling to make inroads into the advantage of Armirail, who still had 20 seconds in hand as he approached the flamme rouge. A late, late surge from Uno-X doomed Armirail hopes and he was caught inside the final 200 metres.
Somewhere in the mist, Cort unleashed a powerful sprint to take the win and move into the overall lead, while Roglič’s second-place finish was an indication of his form coming into this race.
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) didn’t contest the finale, but he finished safely in the 50-strong front group together with Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek) and Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike).
In the overall standings, Cort holds a lead of four seconds over Roglič, with Jorgenson third at six seconds.
“It’s amazing, it’s a very big race here in the Dauphiné,” said Cort, taking his first win for a year.
“After joining Uno-X, I didn’t have the best start to the season. I struggled a little and I didn’t get any big results, and then I had an injury in Tirreno and I was out for a long time. It’s amazing to come back and take a stage win here.”
How it unfolded
Armirail was off the front for almost the entirety of Monday’s stage given that the early break formed almost as soon as the race left the start in Gannat.
The Frenchman was joined on the offensive by Mathis Le Berre (Arkéa-B&B), Jonas Gregaard (Lotto-Dstny), Xandro Meurisse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Filippo Conca (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team), and the quintet quickly struck up a solid working alliance.
The peloton was content to grant them some leeway, given that the road essentially climbed for the final 30km of the stage, with the category 2 Côte de Saint-Georges-en-Couzan leading immediately into the category 3 Col de la Croix Ladret and then the long, final drag to the finish line.
The escapees built up a maximum lead of five minutes, with Bora-Hansgrohe and Israel Premier Tech among the team’s eager to keep some tabs on their advantage, which began to recede on the approach to that stiff finale.
Along the way, Matthis Le Berre did enough over the Côte de Fagot and Col Saint-Thomas to secure a day in the king of the mountains jersey, but that looked likely to be the summit of the break’s achievements when they entered the final 30km with a lead of just under three minutes on the peloton.
The escapees combined smoothly on the succession of climbs in the finale, however, while the peloton followed a more staccato rhythm. A stint of forcing from Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ) on the penultimate climb helped to whittle down the break’s lead, while an acceleration from Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) briefly threatened to ignite the race on the following ascent of the Croix Ladret.
The selection in the peloton ultimately came from the back, with riders shaken loose on the steepest portions of the climb. Pedersen had ruled out any chance of defending yellow before the stage but he surely began to believe in his prospects when he was still in touch near the top of the Croix Ladret. He was eventually burnt off near the summit.
Cort, for his part, acknowledged that he had come close to following his compatriot out the back, but he managed to hang tough in the peloton over the ascent. He managed his effort as best he could, moving up on the shallow sections and then drifting backwards when the gradient bit.
“It was out of my control and of the team because I was very much on the limit on this climb,” he explained.
“It was going up in steps and on the steepest parts I couldn’t go any faster, but the team did an amazing job, pulling a bit and then bringing me completely to the front, so I could lose some metres again on the steeper parts. They brought me back again and again and they delivered me perfectly in the final.”
It briefly looked as though Uno-X had left it too late when they surged to the front inside the final kilometre. Armirail still led deep into the final three hundred metres and when he looked over his shoulder, he could see only dense fog.
At the last, however, Cort emerged from the mist and gloom to claim the spoils.
“It’s a proper big race,” Cort said with a smile.
“A leader’s jersey in the Dauphiné is something to remember for the rest of my career.”
