The bunch was outfoxed by the escapees on the second day of the race.
A rolling terrain between Saint-Péray, a stage start back in 2005 at Paris-Nice, and Brives-Charensac, a small town in south-central France, peppered with four classified climbs, awaited the peloton at the riders continued their journey towards the Alps. It should have been another stage for the peloton, but it ended up being one for the breakaway, who managed to hold off the chasers, despite the latter closing in at a fast pace in the final kilometers of the race.
Just a handful of seconds separated the attackers from the field, and Alexis Vuillermoz (TotalEnergies) proved out to be the fastest from that group, outsprinting his companions and taking the win. Mikkel Honoré finished with the peloton as Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl’s best rider on the day, making a jump of 18 places in the general classification.
The Critérium du Dauphiné continues Tuesday with a stage to Chastreix-Sancy, where a 6.2km uphill finish promises to reshuffle the overall standings, where at the moment, the first 20 riders are all within 15 seconds.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images
