Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) lived up to his favorite role at the sprint stage and confidently won the victory on the second day of the Dauphine tour. The Italian also takes over the yellow jersey of Tadej Pogacar.
Before the start of the second stage, the peloton calculated the first mass sprint at this year’s Dauphine tour. And so it came to the finish line – after 204 hollow kilometers, Milan sprinted ahead of Fred Wright (Bahrain – Victorious) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin – Deceuninck). “I suffered a lot, I was really at the limit”said Milan after the race: “If you have a team that supports yourself and believes in you, it gives you a lot of motivation.”
Pogacar loses yellow jersey to Milan
The previous overall pogacar was out of the sprint, just like his competitor in the fight for the overall ranking, Jonas Vingegaard. The two came as 41st and 35th. The duels of the big rivals are preferably follow on the remaining six stages of the tour.
Immediately after the start, Paul Ourselin (Cofidis) took the top of the field alone. In the meantime, his distance was more than six minutes, but nobody was worried in the main field. Again and again drivers tried to catch up to the leading one, which ended in many small splinter groups.
Almost 22 kilometers before the end, the field was back together and the two best teams in recent years, UAE Team Emirates – XRG and Team Visma -Lease A Bike, set the pace. Nils Politt (Team Emirates) fought for the best position for his team and did not shy away from a few wrangles with beach Hagenes (Team Visma).
Romain brews on a farewell tour with a trial test
The Frenchman Romain Bardet, who retires after the tour, had no desire for a common finish and settled something from the rest. However, the 34-year-old could not win more than the mountain ranking, the field swallowed him around ten kilometers before the finish. By the way, tomorrow the stage will start in his home town of Briude, maybe it will work with a stage victory at the end of the career.
As usual, the teams of the favorite sprinter determined the events on the last kilometers towards the destination. The Lidl Trek team from Jonathan Milan did the best. The 24-year-old confidently secured the victory with a wheel length.