Critérium du Dauphiné 2017 – Stage 2 [LAST 10 KM]

June 05, 2017

Critérium du Dauphiné 2017 – Stage 2 – Saint-Chamond – Arlanc : 171 km

The 2017 Critérium du Dauphiné is a road cycling stage race that is scheduled to take place between 4 and 11 June. It will be the 69th edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné and will be the twenty-third event of the 2017 UCI World Tour.

Arnaud Demare (FDJ) was the fastest man into Arlanc, taking victory on stage 2 of the Criterium du Dauphine. The Frenchman stormed up the right-hand side of the road to take a clear victory over Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin), with Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) rounding out the podium.

Thomas de Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) finished safely in the pack to keep hold of his race lead for at least another day.

From a long way out, it seemed that the day would end with a bunch sprint. It was still a messy affair with Katusha the only team able to put something that resembled a sprint train together in the finale. The effort wasn’t enough for Kristoff, who launched his sprint early, only to be overtaken by a surging Demare.

Demare, put into position by a teammate with around 500 metres to go, came past four riders and still had plenty of room to spare by the time he crossed the line for his sixth win of the season. Bouhanni tried to follow in the pedal strokes of Demare, but found himself shut out by Kristoff, who closed the door on the right side of the road to prevent anyone else passing him. It worked, and Bouhanni had to settle for third place behind the Norwegian.

Bryan Coquard had been one of the pre-stage favourites, but he was left without any teammates after his Direct Energy team botched the leadout, leaving him to try and freelance it, with little success. The Frenchman crossed the line in 10th place.

How it happened

De Gendt started the day in the yellow jersey with a 48-second lead after his solo effort at the end of the opening stage. His lead did not look under any serious threat with an undulating, although not overtly arduous, stage from Saint-Chamond to Arlanc. A blow to De Gendt, however, would be the non-start of his teammate Tosh Van der Sande, who fell ill the day before.

With points up for grabs early in the mountains competition, a break was quick to form. Koen Bouwman (LottoNL-Jumbo), Mickaël Delage (FDJ), Nathan Brown (Cannondale-Drapac) and Romain Combaud (Delko Marseille Provence KTM) broke clear over the third category Côte de Croix Blanche. The peloton was happy to let them break free, but the leash was kept fairly tight, with the maximum advantage hardly north of 3:30 at any given time.

The quartet was reduced to a trio when Delage sat up and drifted back into the clutches of the peloton just 30 kilometres into the day. The remaining escapees plugged along, but success never seemed a realistic option with the peloton continuing to keep close tabs on them, unsurprising considering Brown only began the day 59 seconds behind De Gendt.

With still over 71 kilometres remaining, the peloton – hell-bent on a sprint finish – had the three leaders in their sights. Astana’s Alexey Lutsenko smelt an opportunity and jumped free of the peloton in an attempt to bridge the 45-second gap. He made it look easy and was taking turns on the front with them a few short kilometres later.

As the peloton brought the lead down to under a minute yet again, Lutsenko decided to take matters into his own hands yet again. With just over 30 kilometres remaining, he left his companions behind and went in search of the finish line alone.

Behind him, the sprint teams of Dimension Data and Direct Energy took over the pace setting, which had been in the hands of Lotto-Soudal for most of the race. Lutsenko made use of all the road as he pushed down the descent towards the finish line, but the pack had him at 11 seconds as they passed through the 10km to go mark.

Perhaps channelling the memory of his teammate Fabio Aru’s victory last year, Lutsenko refused to give up on the attack and with five to go he was still holding his position out front. There was only so much he could do and the catch was finally made with three kilometres to go.

The peloton made use of the wide roads on the run into Arlanc, spreading into team order, but that space would be cut down as they made their way through the final few hundred metres of the course. Katusha-Alpecin muscled their way up to the front, delivering Kristoff to a clear run to the line. However, he was quickly passed by a fast approaching Demare, who stormed to the stage win.

Results :
1 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ 4:13:53
2 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin
3 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
4 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
5 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Sunweb
6 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data
7 Ben Swift (GBr) UAE Team Emirates
8 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
9 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac
10 Bryan Coquard (Fra) Direct Energie
11 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
12 Pieter Vanspeybrouck (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
13 Maximiliano Ariel Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors
14 Dion Smith (NZl) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
15 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
16 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal
17 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
18 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
19 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal
20 Jasha Sütterlin (Ger) Movistar Team
21 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
22 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
23 Frederik Backaert (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
24 Julien Simon (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
25 Johan Esteban Chaves Rubio (Col) Orica-Scott
26 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky
27 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
28 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
29 Evaldas Siskevicius (Ltu) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
30 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky
31 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac
32 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team
33 Stef Clement (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
34 Angel Madrazo Ruiz (Spa) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
35 Simon Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac
36 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
37 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
38 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team
39 Jesus Herrada Lopez (Spa) Movistar Team
40 Rubén Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
41 Silvio Herklotz (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
42 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
43 Amaël Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team
44 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team
45 Marco Minnaard (Ned) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
46 Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates
47 Davide Formolo (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac
48 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
49 Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC Racing Team
50 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Sky
51 Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
52 Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
53 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team
54 Jorge Arcas (Spa) Movistar Team
55 Floris De Tier (Bel) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
56 Luis León Sánchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team
57 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team
58 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
59 Jack Haig (Aus) Orica-Scott
60 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
61 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team
62 Damien Howson (Aus) Orica-Scott
63 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Orica-Scott
64 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
65 Andre Fernando S Martins Cardoso (Por) Trek-Segafredo
66 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
67 Daniel Martin (Irl) Quick-Step Floors
68 Thomas Degand (Bel) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
69 Youcef Reguigui (Alg) Dimension Data
70 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar Team
71 Brendan Canty (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac
72 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott
73 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
74 Cyril Gautier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
75 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Orica-Scott
76 Quentin Pacher (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
77 Yoann Offredo (Fra) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
78 Markel Irizar Aranburu (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
79 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-Scott
80 Rafael Valls (Spa) Lotto Soudal
81 Tiago Machado (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
82 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Dimension Data
83 Julien Vermote (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
84 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
85 Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
86 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal
87 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Team Sky
88 Michael Gogl (Aut) Trek-Segafredo
89 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
90 Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
91 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
92 David Gaudu (Fra) FDJ
93 Jeremy Maison (Fra) FDJ
94 Alexey Vermeulen (USA) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
95 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
96 Haimar Zubeldia Aguirre (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
97 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Dimension Data
98 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
99 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
100 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
101 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data
102 Thierry Hupond (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
103 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky
104 Nils Politt (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
105 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
106 Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin
107 Anthony Turgis (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
108 Julien El Farès (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
109 Sergei Chernetckii (Rus) Astana Pro Team
110 Nikita Stalnov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
111 Jay Robert Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data
112 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) UAE Team Emirates
113 Andreas Schillinger (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
114 Tony Martin (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
115 Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Katusha-Alpecin
116 Julien Duval (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
117 Romain Sicard (Fra) Direct Energie
118 Bert De Backer (Bel) Team Sunweb
119 Matteo Bono (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
120 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
121 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) BMC Racing Team
122 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Sunweb
123 David Lopez Garcia (Spa) Team Sky
124 Dimitri Claeys (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
125 Ian Boswell (USA) Team Sky
126 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Sunweb
127 Delio Fernández Cruz (Spa) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
128 Bryan Nauleau (Fra) Direct Energie
129 Adrien Niyonshuti (Rwa) Dimension Data
130 Scott Thwaites (GBr) Dimension Data
131 Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica-Scott
132 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Direct Energie
133 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida
134 Julien Morice (Fra) Direct Energie
135 Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) FDJ 0:00:20
136 Angelo Tulik (Fra) Direct Energie 0:00:24
137 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:28
138 Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:31
139 Mickaël Delage (Fra) FDJ 0:00:33
140 Adrien Petit (Fra) Direct Energie 0:00:50
141 Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb 0:00:59
142 Olivier Le Gac (Fra) FDJ 0:01:00
143 Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) FDJ
144 Federico Zurlo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
145 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:01:05
146 Borut Bozic (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:21
147 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac 0:01:23
148 Tim Declercq (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:42
149 Jesus Hernandez Blazquez (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:28
150 Imanol Erviti Ollo (Spa) Movistar Team
151 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
152 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
153 Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
154 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:03:53
155 Romain Combaud (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:06:31
156 Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Astana Pro Team
157 Chris Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
158 Leopold König (Cze) Bora-Hansgrohe
159 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Bahrain-Merida
160 Davide Cimolai (Ita) FDJ 0:08:45
161 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
162 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Sky
163 James Shaw (GBr) Lotto Soudal
164 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
165 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal
166 Jonas Van Genechten (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
167 Petr Vakoc (Cze) Quick-Step Floors
168 Amund Grondahl Jansen (Nor) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
169 Aleksejs Saramotins (Lat) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:09:57
170 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo
171 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
172 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe

General Classification after Stage 2 :
1 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 8:30:47
2 Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:48
3 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:03
4 Pierre Roger Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:07
5 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:09
6 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
7 Ben Swift (GBr) UAE Team Emirates
8 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac
9 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal
10 Julien Simon (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits