Critérium du Dauphiné stage 2: Julian Alaphilippe shows his class with timely victory

Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step) stormed to victory on stage 2 of the Criterium du Dauphiné, taking top honours in a reduced bunch sprint ahead of Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Natnael Tesfatsion (Trek Segafredo).

Overnight leader Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) was forced to settle for fourth on the line, despite a fine leadout from teammate and race favourite Jonas Vingegaard. On a day that saw the pure sprinters either dropped or reduced to also-rans in the sprint finish, Alaphilippe burst from the pack to take a morale-boosting win ahead of the Tour de France in July.

“It was a very difficult win. At the last moment we went long. I’ve got the passion of course and I’ve been hunting down this win, especially at the Dauphiné. It was a surprise, with Ethan Vernon we planned on going for the sprint with him but it was too hard for him. It’s been a long time since I’ve gone for a win like this but I just took my chance, and I had good legs. I saw everyone on the limit there, and I did my job,” the Frenchman said at the finish.  

Alaphilippe timed his sprint to the line perfectly, latching on to the back wheel of Richard Carapaz in the closing 100m before pulling clear of the Olympic champion with the line in sight. The result ensured that third-placed Laporte kept his overall lead in the race, but the Jumbo-Visma rider is now tied on time with Alaphilippe. Carapaz’s second place earned him six seconds over his rivals and catapulted him to third overall at just four seconds off the yellow jersey.

As for Alaphilippe, the win comes after a difficult period in which he has struggled for results and form. He was not the favourite for stage 2 from Brassac-les-Mines to La Chaise-Dieu, despite the uphill finish, but after a number of pure sprinters were shelled out the back, the reduced bunch sprint came down to a battle between the survivors of the final climb.

EF-Education attempted to break up proceedings with a late attack through Sean Quinn, and with only Jumbo-Visma hitting the final drag to the line with anything close to a leadout, the Dutch team used their last matches reeling in the American. The catch set up a quick counter attack from Carapaz but  Alaphilippe’s timing and speed were enough to secure his first WorldTour win in over a year.

The early phase of the 167.3km stage saw a group of seven riders pull clear with

Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Dstny) leading the charge alongside Andrea Piccolo (EF Education-EasyPost), Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X), Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies), Nans Peters (AG2R Citroën), Donovan Grondin (Arkéa-Samsic) and Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo). The group of seven built up a two-minute lead over the early climbs but with so few stages in the Dauphiné designed for the sprinters, a number of teams ensured that the gap never threatened the peloton’s chances of deciding the day’s outcome.

With 65km to go the break’s advantage had been reduced to 55 seconds, while a crash in the peloton saw Steven Kruijswijk and several other riders abandon the race. Soudal Quick-Step and Jumbo-Visma shared the majority of the pace setting as first Grondin and Latour lost contact with the leaders.

The first of two ascents of the Côte des Guêtes saw the lead between the break and the peloton drop below 20 seconds before Campenaerts and Elissonde kicked clear of the remnants of the lead group with 27km to go.

The second and final ascent of the Côte des Guêtes with 10.5km to go ended the leaders’ resistance before Tobias Bayer (Alpecin Deceuninck) attacked over the summit. The Austrian could only extend his lead to a handful of seconds before he too was caught with 4km to go. Harry Sweeny (Lotto-Dstny) threw in a late attack of his own but as the sprinters, including Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Dylan Groenewegen suffered on the last lung-busting climb to the line it was Alaphilippe, once the most versatile and sensational rider in the men’s field, who reminded the watching audience of his permanent class.