Saint-Péray – Brives-Charensac – 170 Km

1 VUILLERMOZ Alexis FRA TOTALENERGIES 04:03:34
2 SKAARSETH Anders NOR UNO-X PRO CYCLING TEAM 00:00
3 LE GAC Olivier FRA GROUPAMA – FDJ 00:00
4 VERMAERKE Kevin USA TEAM DSM 00:00
5 DELAPLACE Anthony FRA TEAM ARKÉA SAMSIC 00:00
6 VAN AERT Wout BEL JUMBO-VISMA 00:05
7 HAYTER Ethan GBR INEOS GRENADIERS 00:05
8 PAGE Hugo FRA INTERMARCHÉ – WANTY – GOBERT MATÉRIAUX 00:05
9 VENTURINI Clément FRA AG2R CITROËN TEAM 00:05
10 RIABUSHENKO Alexandr ASTANA QAZAQSTAN TEAM 00:05

Gesamt:

1 VUILLERMOZ Alexis FRA TOTALENERGIES 08:40:55
2 SKAARSETH Anders NOR UNO-X PRO CYCLING TEAM 00:03
3 LE GAC Olivier FRA GROUPAMA – FDJ 00:04
4 VAN AERT Wout BEL JUMBO-VISMA 00:05
5 VERMAERKE Kevin USA TEAM DSM 00:07
6 HAYTER Ethan GBR INEOS GRENADIERS 00:09
7 DELAPLACE Anthony FRA TEAM ARKÉA SAMSIC 00:10
8 QUINN Sean USA EF EDUCATION-EASYPOST 00:11
9 BOUET Maxime FRA TEAM ARKÉA SAMSIC 00:12
10 HUYS Laurens BEL INTERMARCHÉ – WANTY – GOBERT MATÉRIAUX 00:13

Critérium du Dauphiné: Ausreißergruppe setzt sich auf der zweiten Etappe durch, Nils Politt auf Rang 15

Die zweite Etappe des Critérium du Dauphiné führte heute von Saint-Péray über 169,8km nach Brives-Charensac. Ähnlich der gestrigen Etappe standen auch heute vier kategorisierte Anstiege und ein insgesamt hügeliges Profil auf dem Programm. Die sechsköpfige Fluchtgruppe des Tages schaffte es mit einem Vorsprung von nur fünf Sekunden bis zur Ziellinie, A. Vuillermoz war am Ende der Schnellste. Im Sprint des Hauptfeldes konnte sich Nils Politt den 15. Platz sichern. Wilco Kelderman und Patrick Konrad kamen auch heute wieder ohne Zeitrückstände oder Stürze ins Ziel und befinden sich vor der ersten Bergankunft morgen weiterhin in aussichtsreicher Position.

Reaktionen im Ziel
„Wir haben ein sehr kontrolliertes Rennen gesehen heute, am letzten Anstieg haben Ineos und EF das Tempo gemacht und die meisten Sprinter abgehängt. Im Finale waren wir knapp dran die Gruppe noch einzuholen, letztendlich aber hat es knapp nicht gereicht für das Hauptfeld. Mit meiner Form bin ich zufrieden im Moment und freue mich auf die nächsten Tage.“ Nils Politt

„Unsere Idee für die Etappe war Lukas Pöstlberger in der Ausreißergruppe des Tages dabei zu haben, da wir ein erfolgreiches Ende für die Gruppe heute als durchaus möglich eingeschätzt haben. Leider ist uns dies nicht gelungen, vielleicht auch wegen des erfolgreichen Auftritts von Lukas im letzten Jahr. Dem hohen Tempo am letzten Anstieg musste auch unser Sprinter Jordi Meeus Tribut zollen und so galt unser Fokus im Finale den beiden Fahrern um die Gesamtwertung Wilco Kelderman und Patrick Konrad. Beide befinden sich vor der morgigen ersten Bergankunft und dem Zeitfahren am Mittwoch in einer idealen Ausgangslage.“ Christian Pömer, Sports Director

Vuillermoz takes it all

Alexis Vuillermoz (TotalEnergies) enjoyed the most beautiful day on the way to Brives-Charensac, where he won stage 2 of the Critérium du Dauphiné 2022. At 33 years old, the French puncheur bounces back to success in fashion, after a very intense battle against the peloton. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) was the fastest from the bunch, again, but it only gave him a place of 6, 5 seconds behind the breakaway riders.
Alexis Vuillermoz thus takes the yellow and blue jersey, ahead of Anders Skaarseth (Uno-X) and Olivier Le Gac (Groupama-FDJ), 2nd and 3rd of the stage. This is the first time Vuillermoz takes a distinctive jersey, and he takes his first victory since 2019, after serious struggles and injuries in the recent years. It will be hard battle for the overall leadership on the way to Chastreix-Sancy resort on stage 3, on Tuesday.

The peloton start from Saint-Péray at midday, with 151 riders and sunny conditions. They quickly go through Tournon-sur-Rhône – where Fabio Aru won stage 3 in 2016 – and face uphill roads that inspire the attackers.
After 18km of battle, five riders manage to open a gap: Olivier Le Gac (Groupama-FDJ), Anders Skaarseth (Uno-X), Anthony Delaplace (Arkea-Samsic), Xandres Vervloesem (Lotto Soudal) and Kevin Vermaerke (Team DSM). Alexis Vuillermoz (TotalEnergies) quickly joins them at the front and the gap is up 3’20’’ at km 24.

BikeExchange-Jayco pull, but Groenewegen struggles

Wout van Aert’s Jumbo-Visma set the pace in the bunch on the day after the Belgian star’s dominant sprint in Beauchastel. The breakaway’s lead reaches a maximum of 4’40’’ at km 45, just ahead of the first categorised ascents of the day.

Vervloesem summits first the cat-3 climbs of Désaignes (km 56.2) and Saint-Agrève (km 63.5), but Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-KTM) built enough of a lead in the KOM standings on stage 1 to retain the polka-dot jersey if he reaches the finish without incidents.

Chris Harper (Jumbo-Visma) controls the gap until BikeExchange-Jayco sends Tsgabu Grmay at the front of the bunch halfway through the stage. But EF Education-EasyPost and Ineos Grenadiers up the ante on the main ascent of the day, the cat-2 climb to the Col de Mézilhac (11.6km at 4.1%), and the Dutch sprinter is dropped inside the last 3km of ascent. Vervloesem faces the same fate in the breakaway.

Roglic works, Vuillermoz dominates

At the summit (km 109.8), the peloton trail by 3’10’’, and Groenewegen, assisted by his teammates, is 50’’ further behind. The road keeps rising towards Le Gerbier de Jonc and Trek-Segafredo also participate in the chase. At the intermediate sprint (km 124.3), the gap from the attackers to the bunch is down to 1’40’’, and the Groenewegen group trail by another 1’40’’.

The five riders still at the front work well together to enter the last 25km with a lead of 1’35’’. At the bottom of the final climb – the cat-3 Côte de Rohac, to be summited with 9km to go -, the attackers lead by 45’’. Trek-Segafredo set a hard pace and the gap is down to 30’’ over the top… But the attackers maintain that advantage into the last 3km.

Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) also participates in the chase, but it’s too late. Olivier Le Gac launches the sprint 300m away from the line. Alexis Vuillermoz quickly reacts and eventually passes his compatriot just before the line, with Anders Skaarseth squeezing in P2. Wout van Aert is the first rider from the bunch to cross the line, 5 seconds later. The Belgian star loses his yellow and blue jersey to Vuillermoz.

Vuillermoz: „I wanted to enjoy myself and it paid off“

„It’s incredible. After two years of struggles and a pelvic fracture, I could have stopped riding. But I still wanted to come back. I didn’t really believe in it today, but I saw the break was going and the team didn’t have anyone at the front, so I decided to follow because I was in a good position to do so. I wanted to enjoy myself and it paid off. It wasn’t always easy at the front as a lightweight, but I took my turns at the front. I thought we would get caught but we didn’t wait and see, we took our chance and we were right. When you’re at the front, you have to fight until the end. It was a very long sprint, a bit scrappy. When Olivier [Le Gac] attacked, I didn’t think I would come back, but he faded a bit with 50m to go. I went after him and I was afraid someone else would come back from behind, but it worked out. I’ve never worn a distinctive jersey, it will be a bliss even though it may be difficult to keep it tomorrow with the Chastreix-Sancy finish.“
@ASO