Critérium du Dauphiné Stage 2 Preview

A chance for the sprinters? Sure but like yesterday there are some climbs to act as launchpads for others again.

Le Gratin du Dauphiné: the opening stage of the Dauphiné can sometimes fall flat, all the anticipation of the racing to come is confronted with a soft stage and most of the action is for the next weekend. Not this time. Although seeing Pierre Thierry and Paul Ourselin go up the road it looked unremarkable, Ourselin would take the mountains jersey for the day, a consolation for Cofidis after Hugo Toumire crashed out of the race in the feed zone.

Matteo Jorgenson tried to go for the intermediate sprint’s remaining one bonus second but Nils Politt prevented him.

After a nervous last lap where the big names were fighting for position the final climb of the Rue Buffon saw moves fly. Ineos’s Axel Laurance lit the touch paper.

Jonas Vingegaard attacked over the top, taking Tadej Pogačar, Mathieu van der Poel and Santiago Buitrago with him. Stellar, but the constellation was missing a name: Remco Evenepoel. Lacking team mates, he was out of place and had to react in person and got across.

The group only had a few seconds. Van der Poel struck out alone in the final kilometre, got caught and led out the sprint, enough for Pogačar and Vingegaard to get around him for the win.

It was a thrilling finish and instructive too: Vingegaard hasn’t come here to spectate as he making the move and got some bonus seconds; Evenepoel is without much support already, Van der Poel for once losing a sprint. And Pogačar wins.

The Route: the longest stage of the week, 205km and 3,100m of vertical gain. It’s gradually uphill from the start out of the Montluçon basin and then across lumpy terrain all day. After the intermediate sprint comes the Col de Ventouse but it’s a drag up, just more vertical gain.

The two climbs before the finish rise feature ruined castles. The first is the hardest with some wall-like sections and it keeps climbing well beyond the king of the mountains banner.

The second to Nonette can eject some sprinters, think of the Namur citadel in the GP Wallonie, minus the cobbles but a dash uphill to a fortified town. It’s 2km at 6% with some 8% along the way, and tight bends to line out the bunch.

There’s also an unmarked climb to Le Chaffour with 5km to go, over a kilometre at 4% and some 6% to trouble some sprint trains.

The Finish: flat and big roads with a left hand bend with 450m to go.

The Contenders: a tough day for any sprinters, their hope is that the climb of La Nonette is almost 20km from the finish so if they go backwards there’s time to regroup. Still Jonathan Milan and Lidl-Trek will aim for this, he didn’t contest the sprint yesterday but he was able to make the front group. Others who can cope with a climb include Axel Laurance (Ineos), Paul Penhoët (Groupama-FDJ) and Jake Stewart (IPT).

The régional de l’étape is Rémy Cavagna but local knowledge isn’t what it once was given the amount of data and analysis available.

–
Van der Poel, Milan
Stewart, Laurance, Penhoët

Weather: sunshine and a light 10km/h tailwind for much of the stage, 24°C. The race changes direction for the final 10km so the tailwind becomes a headwind and crosswind but it’s light.

TV: KM0 is at midday, the finish is at 17.15 CEST with the last 90 minutes live on TV.

Postcard from Issoire
The most famous cyclist from Issoire? Marcel Mazeyrat who rode the Tour de France four times. You can be forgiven for not knowing the name. He retired and in 1935 opened the bike shop “Au Tour de France” in the nearby city of Clermont-Ferrand. This proved more lucrative than cycling because as well as selling bicycles, he soon began to sell scooters and motorbikes. The workers from the Michelin factories bought so many mobylettes that Mazeyrat became one of Motobécane’s biggest dealers.

His descendants kept the bike shop going but as a sign of the times local newspaper La Montagne reports his family have since exited the cycle trade and opened the Subway sandwich bar franchises in Clermont instead.

Mazeyrat was from the Auvergne and seemed to thrive on home soil. He won the junior Premier Pas Dunlop mentioned in yesterday’s postcard, and as a pro took several of his wins in the region too.

For years the Auvergne was a distinct region of France, known for its extinct volcanos, wooded hillsides and rugged terrain. It still exists as an identity but politically it has since merged with the Rhone-Alpes region to the east to form Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes or “Au-Ra”.

The race was created to promote the Dauphiné Libéré newspaper and it worked for decades. ASO bought the race from the newspaper in 2010 and had to rebrand it, calling it the Critérium du Dauphiné and taking it well beyond the newspaper’s circulation. To the point where it rarely visits the actual Dauphiné region and has become a tour of the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, sponsored by the enlarged region and visiting as much of the area as possible which is why the race comes to Issoire today. Could a name change be on the cards? The Aura Tour soon?

52 thoughts on “Critérium du Dauphiné Stage 2 Preview”

  1. Stewart looked good winning yesterday’s sprint from the bunch. In theory he’s Ackermann’s lead out but merits more opportunities for himself and Ackermann doesn’t win much these days.

  2. That last paragraph is fascinating. I had no idea what was behind the name and course design. Merci encore for the knowledge!

    • As an aside, it’s notable how many kids you see in UAE kit these days. OK, it’s not Real Madrid’s jersey by a long way but if you see some kids on road bikes in France, Italy, Spain, Belgium etc… chances are they’ve got UAE shorts or socks etc.

      • Sad that country with an awful humans rights record like uae gets recognition like this – as they say, $$$ talks, bs walks.

        • It’s unfair to taint Pog, always gracious and kind too the random kids on the route, with these all too predictable laments. Just which team do you think is morally pure enough to satisfy your concern? I suppose shampoo and supermarkets might just scrape in? Insurance ? Though you would have to inspect their investments……

          • Don’t have me started on supermarkets… or (in additiom to that) several brands sold there whose human rights negative score could make UAE’s pale. And I’m not exaggerating.

            That’s said, I believe that it’s fair to use some occasions here and there to counteract UAE and other sportwashing, just remembering us all what we’re speaking of, so I’m fine with that reminder.

  4. I watched the ITV highlights and they reminded me why I don’t like the commentary.

    Ned Boulting doesn’t seem to know what he’s watching – he went on about Healy attacking and doing it was a very Healy thing when he really appeared to be setting up a team-mate for a dig (that led to nothing). For some reason David Millar sort of backed him up when he knows better.

    Then Vinny had a go and Boutling described it as daring to attack Pog like he was some subordinate. Really? Vinny doesn’t fear Pog and knows he can beat him.

    • I agree than “Vinny doesn’t fear Pog and knows he can beat him.” But this was on rather unusual terrain for a Vinny attack against Pog. So “daring to attack Pog” was quite remarkable.

  5. Great insight, sad times if opening a terrible food franchise beats selling a cycle that can take you on a tour of cafe’s. I hope they keep the name, a lot of the appeal in cycling is its rich history

    • Quite so Dom. The same point on lost traditions applies to the forced merging of regions under PM Manuel Valls. I’m now in Grand Est, a fusion of Alsace, Lorraine and Champagne-Ardenne with nobody happy and residents in the west 350km from their regional capital of Strasbourg.

      Another outsider – among many – for today: Sam Watson. He has a sprint and can cope the the climbs.

  6. Well that was unexpectedly exciting, though possibly wont mean much in the end. Interesting that it was Jonas Vingegaard who kicked it all off though you would have thought everyone would have learnt that towing Tadej Pogacer to the finish line is a bad idea. Lets see if there is a repeat today.

  7. I’m still pretty bemused at how anyone doesn’t enjoy this era…

    Seeing the best of the best launch it at the end of a expected sprint stage one of a warm up race was pretty much unheard of in previous generations – for every walkover by one of the big six we get one of these flare ups or an all time classic. This may even be the year we get a TDF fight past the first two weeks from P&V… I love it!

    My only disappointment is these moments coming in races most fans don’t watch – I honestly do not think the issue with current cycling is the riders, teams, routes or TV coverage even if all could be improved, it’s a schedule that favours three weeks in July and two weekends in April, everything else is secondary despite being excellent.

    Loved yesterday, what a treat after a brilliant end to Giro.

    • The only reason that I watched the last 25 km of the Giro was to see if Harper could hang on.
      My coverage went to a commercial break as soon as Del Toro and Carapaz crested the climb. When they returned to the race I thought it must have been neutralised for some reason!

    • I certainly enjoyed the unexpected turns Yesterday, despite Pog’s win! And I did enjoy the Giro, even though I skipped the first stages. Actually I enjoyed the Giro more than any Giro in recent times – mainly because I distrust UAE intensely – and because it was without Pog whom I’m starting to dislike as a person (not only for his UAE-involvement). I’m not sure about the Dauphiné from here, but I will follow the results and see if its worth watching next weekend.

      I will however mention the French Open final Yesterday. It certainly trumfed any cycling this year. Speaking from Spain. 😉

      • The Infinite Finale! Loved it, but may I say as a cycling lover and as a tennis “ignorant” of sort that it’s way too obvious that it was better than any cycling this year (not immensely better than the best we’ve seen, anyway… but, as I said, I’m a cycling fan). All the comments I’ve heard from tennis specialists, long term fans etc. were like “probably one of the best finals ever in the sport’s history”. Such a level for a sport event (among the best ever seen at the highest level) means that it’s going to be better than most sport events in general, no matter which sport… its proper category would be comparing it with the top events in general sports history, not a single season of any of them!

        • Brilliant! 🙂

          I’ll add that I fully understand why Nadal – at his prime on clay – was kind of turn-off for the non-Spanish viewers, given how predictably (lack a better word) many his victories tended to be, so I really hope that the Sinner-Alcaraz rivalry an their different dymanics can continue on this level. Preferably with a few more thrown into contention. This is exactly what tennis needs after some pretty drab years. IMHO.

      • I actually think this is a great comparison MediumMig.

        Tennis is well set up for these rivalries to repeatedly have their grand stand moments and provide afternoons like Paris yesterday to fans following the narrative whereas cycling is the opposite and sometimes feels purposefully set up to give you as fewer grandstand moments as possible with each generations rivalry!

        I find it infuriating… the best Contador vs Froome moments I saw were in early season races of 14/15 which few other even watched, the best Contador vs Schleck was the stand off in the Tour 2010, the best Quintana vs Froome were mid-race Vuelta stages – none of them firstly match up to what this generation of riders has already provided, but also cycling pales in comparison to a sport like Tennis that seems to punch far above its weight because it’s so well organised…

        We should be thankful for the incredible racing both Pogacar and Vingegaard have already given us in recent tours, even if the third weeks have been deflating, but I think we should be angry at the sport as a whole for this legendary moments being so few and far between in comparison to many other sports.

        Of course yesterday’s Dauphine stage came because less was on the line and the riders clearly felt like having a dash which would be unlikely in the Tour but all of that can still be there for a cleverly worked calendar that prioritised year long narratives.

        • I already showed you real-life figures about the number of big show-off at the top level or close to the top in tennis not being substantially different from cycling’s… but whatever, man!

          I actually think that cycling being *also* able to provide great duels *even outside* the peak events is a real plus, given that, as I said, you’re granted all the same a decent number of challenges at the top (if tennis is fine for you, cycling must also be… as the figures are comparable).

          Throwing other sports would give you more surprises… to put it down paradoxically, what’s the meaning of having everyone clashing 20 times a year as in F1 if the results are always the same or so?

        • Absolute agree!

          And it is an integral part of pro-cycling that those grandstand moments can be infuriatingly few, far between and in obscure races or stages. I still haven’t seen a usable proposal on how to refine cycling – perhaps neutering the strongest teams and limit their fiscal-fueled dominance could work, but even that would be difficult. Incentives for teams to work together if facing a dominant rider or team? I don’t know. Probably some far-fetched ideas have been hatched but I really can’t see anything work. So we will just have to wait and see.

          So to stay in the tennis analogy, I’m crossing my fingers for a “Sinner-Alcaraz”-version of the Tour this year, rather than the “Nadal” we got last year. But I’m – despite Vingo’s surprising moves – inclined to expect the latter…

        • And let me add that your selection of examples above leaves me doubting a lot.

          Why shouldn’t the 2014 Vuelta be a good example of a serious Froome/Contador challenge, both at the top of their game, and racing in one of the clear peaks of the sport?
          Further on about this point, why isn’t the Vuelta fine for you when you then name it re: Froome and Quintana? (By the way, why the 2015 TDF wasn’t fine for you in that sense?)
          Do you care only about Wimbledon in tennis?

          And if you’re interested in cross-generational challenges like that Contador vs. Froome you insist on (Contador’s last moment on top was probably May 2015, while Froome didn’t even exist during the first *five* years of Contador’s career among the very best, and wasn’t anyway a serious top contender until 2013, so they only shared two high-level seasons…), I mean, if it’s fine for you to have a cross-generational duel, why not including TDF 2013 among Froome and Quintana’s moments? The latter was extremely young and unexperienced, but so what? The Ventoux was great all the same, and Froome ended seriously pushed on the ropes, although the final result was never at risk.

          Why is so restricted your selection of supposed big names? Thankfully, the 10s were better than now, in that sense.
          Isn’t Dumoulin decent enough? The Giro 2017 and 2018 offered great duels among those who at the time were beyond doubt the top athletes.

          Same for Evans vs. Schleck in 2011. Not big enough? You can’t be serious!

          I could go on much longer, as you may imagine, but I think that’s pretty evident that your opinion is based on some huge selection bias.

        • I think there are two issues here David. Maybe even three. I’ll have to count them when I get to the end.
          Firstly, you are placing an inflated importance on the Pogacar/Vingegaard rivalry. Pogacar has been having an epic ding dong battle with Van der Poel, and a few supporting cast members, all season. Why is that not good enough for you?!
          Secondly, this is is the first time the two have met all year, I think, but it won’t be the last. They may face off here, at the Tour and at the Vuelta. Thats 7 weeks of them duelling. Maybe more if the worlds stays in Rwanda and Vingegaard goes. Why is that not good enough for you?!
          Thirdly, though this may be a bit the same as point 1, you are stuck a bit in the last decade. Then, with a declining Cancellara/Boonen, Sagan not yet what he became and the hilly classics like watching paint dry, the big rivalry (though it was at best medium) was Froome and Contador. And they did only ever meet in the Grand Tours. Pogacar races all season and has different rivalries depending on the race, as well as other rivalries like MvdP v WVA. You even recognise it as a golden era yourself. Why is that not good enough for you?
          I had a fourth one, but its gone now.
          Cheers

        • I can understand where you’re coming from OldDave, but I don’t see how there’s a solution to what you consider to be a problem…

          Cycling is a taxing sport. You simply can’t have any riders, whether they’re the best riders in the world or not, compete at (or near) their best level in more than a handful of week-long or three-week-long races each year. Human physiology simply doesn’t allow it.

          Other cycling sports, like XC MTB & Cyclocross can achieve it, give or a take a bit of race prioritisation by some riders, because the races are only 1-1.5 hours long. And so a World Cup series (or Superprestige, or X20 etc) of 8-12 races is possible, with the big names generally showing up in good shape all through the season.

          How do you do that in road cycling, outside of 1 day racing, which as Richard S notes has been incredible this year? And how would the result be better than the duels that Richard S highlights above?

        • Just catching up on the Dauphine and these threads (including responses below).

          The comparison of rivalries in tennis vs cycling is interesting, but I think one reason that tennis can seem more compelling is because it is structured around knockout competitions, so the best players almost always face each other in the high-stakes matches at the end of competitions, rather than in the middle. These greater stakes make the matches and rivalries more compelling, because the battle is immediately followed by the final payoff (i.e. winning the competition). Whereas, in cycling (or at least in Grand Tours), it’s rare for the ultimate battle to play out right until the very end of the competition/event: the killer blow is often landed a week or more before the finale, removing suspense regarding the final outcome.

          This is why the recent Giro and the French Open results were so gripping: we were almost sure that del Toro or Sinner were going to win. But then the script was flipped almost at the very end. How often has this happened in a Grand Tour? Obviously LeMond ’89, Pogacar 2020, Roglic (Giro) 2023. But usually the final GC is settled sooner.

          • What can make a grand tour more exciting is the ongoing battles. 1989 – the subject I can probably bore others about – was so good not because of the 8 second conclusion but because of the contests along the way with the yellow jersey changing shoulders many times, momentum swinging back and forth between LeMond and Fignon, all while Delgado closed in and others were candidates too. This scenario is possible, but rare of course.

    • Agreeing with most you say, but can’t really understand your 3rd paragraph.

      Why is it the “schedule” supposedly favouring this or that?
      And why do you speak of “fans watching” (or not) then implicitly equalling that to importance, as in some other events being supposedly “secondary”?

      I think this part makes little sense checked against the current (say last 20 years) reality of the sport.

      Audience distribution changed through time, notwithstanding a generally stable schedule. What actually (as in “what has been measured with real figures”) has been impacting audience are other factors.

      That said, GT are typically (in the middle term) what fans mostly watch, not the April weekends. And sometimes also the Worlds, which you don’t name. But such a factor, i.e. viewing figures, doesn’t necessarily corresponds to “importance”, which might give room to a separate debate (complicated as you don’t have data, but it can be done).

      Plus, such a distribution of audience across cycling races may vary wildly, and often does, from country to country, again… against a stable schedule.

      TV coverage, if you include type of broadcast, is probably the defining factor. The Ronde having no free national broadcast in Italy or Spain might (wild guess, just as an example) have been *watched* by a similar number of people on a global scale as Dauphiné or even Sanremo…

      My general take would rather be that *importance* of races is quite stable through time but fluctuates in specific periods mainly due to athletes’ attitude towards them and racing style. Second most important factor being IMHO institutional policies by organisers and UCI.
      Audience is partly related to that but not hugely so. It depends mainly on type of broadcast, then local national “cultures” about cycling, then other factors (normally GT > Classics, mountain course > ITT/sprint etc.)

      A curious case? As I forwarded, I can confirm that the 2024 and 2025 Giro were equally appreciated in terms of Italian RAI TV viewers, averaging some 1.7M through the whole GT. 2025 was slightly worse, but marginally so. After the Italian contenders era, which obviously had better figures even if many Italians rooted for Contador, people in Italy didn’t like at all 2023 (worst data ever), 2022 (pretty similar, saved by its first half), 2018 (worst ever until 2022), maybe but hard to say 2020 (the covid calendar doesn’t help an exact comparison).
      Good luck if we want to demonstrate that “people like suspense till the end”, “people like a tight fight”, “people like a champion winning by surprise”… or whatever!

        • Official RAI data, I used to collect them every year. There’s a press release after each stage. There’s also an academic specialist in Leuven, Daam Van Reeth, who sometimes wrote here and with whom I’ve been sharing views and figures. He’s a pro in the field and I’m an amateur, of course!
          Now I went by memory about relative performances, so I might be remembering wrong, but I can check back the sources.

          Where were you linked to, as a curiosity?

          I’ve been testing ChatGPT with some friends in need on literature (early novel in Europe) and titanium bikes (builds currently on offer) and the results were simply terrible, humans have some years of margin, still, it seems. Although my opinion is that AI will just legitimate poor quality knowledge as industrial food and textile did before…

          • I got this one:

            “2023 Edition: The 106th Giro d’Italia achieved significant viewership. The stage at Tre Cime di Lavaredo on May 26, 2023, attracted an average of 2.458 million viewers on Rai2, with a peak of 2.633 million viewers and a 29% share. Overall, the average viewership for the 2023 edition was 1.7 million viewers per stage, marking a 28% increase compared to 2022 . archysport.com”

        • Dunno if that’s the reason of the answers you received, but 2023 hadn’t begun bad and even ended on a high, can’t recall if it was Lavaredo or Lussari itself. So obviously RAI made a lot of noise about that, especially share rather than viewers. But it was a single shot which couldn’t lift up the average. If I can get motivated enough, I’ll dig out the figures again, but I won’t promise anything

          • I’ll try to get back my file. Was it so, it would be virtually identical to 2024 and 2025.
            However, I have very deep doubts about an increase of 28% between any edition I can think of. It would mean that 2022 averaged 1.3 which is really hard to believe. I’d bet against that some decent money!
            Although it’s possible that I mixed up the relative pecking order of 2022 and 2023.

            2025, which I obviously remember better, impressed me because of steady figures. Since stage 14 included on the penultimate Saturday, the series was 2.1M – 2.1M – rest day – 2.0M – 2.0M – 1.7M (flattish stage for the break) – 2.1M – 2.4M. Didn’t collect Rome which probably killed the average (I set it at a generic 1.5M).
            Some difference in data might also depend on the Pisa ITT which had measuring issues.
            Now that I think about it, in 2023 it happened something along these lines, as the last day there was an Auditel strike, so some measurements just didn’t count that and used the average of the previous 20 stages, which was obviously higher than it would make sense in a direct comparison (the final sprint stage usually gets a drop in figures).

            However, I think that Lussari didn’t even hit the 2M mark, whereas, for example, the Marmolada stage in 2022 was fantastic at nearly 3M viewers, but the rest was too poor. Pogi’s Grappa was 2.5M or 2.6M I think.

            From what I recall, Bernal’s victory averaged 1.9M or 2.0M through the whole race, Carapaz in 2019 was even better. The rest we’re speaking of would float around 1.7M. I’m pretty sure Pogi’s average was a little above 1.7M, but not much a few thousands perhaps.

            I’d really need to retrieve that Excel ^___^

  8. Watching live, I thought van der Poel was a certain bet for the win, but apparently he’s not at 100%, so Pogacar got the win (even though he said he just followed wheels all day).
    Visma have obviously planned the two man attacks for the race and it’ll be interesting to see how aggresive the team are. Isolating your opponents is a good move and maybe there’s one eye on the first 10 days of the Tour.

    • Maybe if he was 100% he’d have done again what he did at his Amstel, being a one-man sprint train, and the winning sprinter, too, but this time the competition was a bit different, too…
      All in all, I’d say it was rather about tactics and enjoying emptying yourself to go for the win the crazy way, not necessarily the sensible one. It’s a training race after all!

  9. “Evenepoel is without much support already”…

    Is Quickstep’s team here what they’ll bring to the Tour? Do they have anyone else to help Evenepoel there?

    How often, I wonder, does he wish he rode for a team with a better grand tour makeup.

    • Ah, but Remco is a lighter version now and though his placing isn’t optimal I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up winning DL.
      From what we witnessed in 24, I have been rather certain that of Remco lost, say 2 kgs, both TP and JV would have their work cut out for them. I really think he is underestimated for now.

      • I hope u are right. It would be wonderful for the DL and subsequent Tour to have at least three competitors. The dynamics would change dramatically.

      • No doubt–and getting across to the little group and riding so much in the final kms was impressive–but it still seems he will be lacking support in the TdF, no?

        • How he caught up easily was quite a show of strength, but it was on the flat where we know he can be fast for an extended period. He will be faster on ascents now, but for TDF, I doubt he has the stamina for 3 weeks established yet.
          But I find his weightloss fascinating as this, in my view, was what kept him from following JV & TP last year.

      • Sometimes I´m really slow – slow enough to feel totally dumb.

        The unexplained “DL” in “if he ends up winning DL” left me puzzled: what race hides behind the initials?!

          • Well, I said I was slow, didn´t I?!

            “Jag fattar icke just så snart Men det är så underbart Hur efteråt blir allting mig så klart.”

            The lines of a Swedish operetta roughly translated: “I´m not too quick on the uptake But it´s wonderful How afterwards everything´s so clear to me.”

            PS I don´t know what it says – or if indeed it says anything at all – about road cycling and cycling fans that a race can be referred to by a name it last had 15 years ago:-) But in this case its use wasn´t motivated by a desire to put newer and less knowledgeable fans in their place. Of that I´m sure!

    • There’s Van Wilder and there was supposed to be Landa. But they don’t have a lot more. It’ll be interesting to see the split of resources with Merlier too.

      A good mountain lieutenant is a seven figure contract by the way.

      • I saw that McNulty is signed at UAE through 2027, which I guess means he has signed a second or third contract after already having some pretty big wins. Can’t be cheap, and he’s just a luxury extra. Can’t imagine many teams would even consider such a thing.

    • You were right… I won’t moan about this stupid fashion of rebranding old names with franglish ones (too late). Does the region really think people will like an administrative division better if their name is on a race ? Anyway I think it will be Dauphiné for cycling fans still for a few years (until the new rebranding because the very communicative region’s chief will be gone and the region will lack money).

      • I liked the Dauphiné name but the wistful feeling is more that the race left the Dauphiné region long ago, the name change feels like catching up with reality.

        The old Dauphiné area is great for a week of stage racing with everything from plains to high mountains, and lots of varied terrain in between and June is a great time promote it. This identity is lost a bit more and the race ranges very wide, like it’s spreading itself too thinly.

        But the politicians need to create an identity for the new region and at least they see the bike race as a means of weaving places together. Plus at least ASO hasn’t sold the naming rights to some flat region of France and moving the race there.

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