On stage 2 of the Criterium du Dauphine 2024 over 142 kilometres from Gannat to Col de la Loge, there was a sprint at the end of the remaining peloton. The last 20 kilometres were almost constantly uphill for the riders. In the final metres, the remaining peloton caught up with the breakaway rider Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale). The subsequent sprint was won by Magnus Cort Nielsen (Uno-X Mobility) ahead of Primoz Roglic and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike). With the stage win, Cort Nielsen is also the new overall leader of the Criterium du Dauphine.
Armirail becomes a tragic hero
For a long time, a leading group of five riders, including Bruno Armirail, rode in front. Around ten kilometres before the finish, the Frenchman broke away again and rode solo towards the finish. For a long time, it looked as if Armirail could celebrate a breakaway coup - he was able to maintain his lead over long stretches. However, he was caught by the peloton on the final straight and narrowly missed out on the stage win. Bora-Hansgrohe, among others, had pushed hard in the final kilometres and made the almost impossible possible: catching the breakaway at the last second.
"We were simply at the limit on the climb. My team did a great job and got me to the front perfectly. After a few problems at the start of the season, I'm delighted to have won this big race." - Magnus Cort Nielsen in the winner's interview
Criterium du Dauphine 2024: Results - the top 10 of stage 2
- Magnus Cort Nielsen (Uno-X Mobility) 3:21:42
- Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:00
- Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:00
- Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +0:00
- Oier Lazkano (Movistar) +0:00
- Dylan Teuns (Israel-Premier Tech) +0:00
- Lukas Nerurkar (EF Education EasyPost) +0:00
- Clement Champoussin (Arkea-B&B Hotels) +0:00
- Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ) +0:00
- Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) +0:00
The current standings in the overall standings
- Magnus Cort Nielsen (Uno-X Mobility) 7:23:02
- Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:04
- Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:06
- Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +0:08
- Clement Champoussin (Arkea-B&B Hotels) +0:10
- Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) +0:10
- Oier Lazkano (Movistar) +0:10
- Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech) +0:10
- Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emriates) +0:10
- Jack Haig (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:10
This is how the 2nd stage of the Criterium du Dauphine went
Shortly after the start of the race in Gannat, five riders broke away: Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Mathis Le Berre (Arkea-B&B Hotels), Jonas Gregaard (Lotto-Dstny), Xandro Meurisse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Filippo Conca (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) created a stable race situation early on and formed the leading group of the day. Their lead over the peloton quickly grew significantly.
Bora-Hansgrohe works in the peloton
The peloton left a maximum lead of five minutes to the quintet, which included Israel-Premier Tech, Groupama-FDJ and the German team Bora-Hansgrohe. Meanwhile, Le Berre proved to be nimble on the mountain classifications. He was allowed to wear the mountain jersey on stage 3.
With 60 kilometres to go, the lead was still 4:20 minutes, then the peloton increased the pace so that the lead melted away more and more - also because Bora rode a good pace at the front. The peloton thinned out more and more, with Chris Froome (Israel-Premier Tech), Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Nils Politt (both UAE Team Emirates) and many other riders experiencing problems.
Armirail with escape attempt
Bruno Armirail broke away from the leading group 10 kilometres before the finish and tried to ride solo. In the peloton, Uno-X Mobility and EF Education EasyPost, among others, now set the pace - they were only 30 seconds behind the leaders. Shortly afterwards, the four remaining riders behind Armirail were caught by the peloton. This left only the Frenchman in the lead.
A few hundred metres before the finish, Armirail was caught by the onrushing peloton. Magnus Cort Nielsen had the fastest legs in the sprint, winning stage 2 ahead of Bora-Hansgrohe's captain Primoz Roglic.
