Stage 2 of the 2015 Criterium du Dauphine travels 173 kilometres from Le Bourget-du-Lac to Parc des Oiseaux Villars-les-Dombes. Join The Roar for all the live action from 8:30pm (AEST).
The climbing begins early today, with a category two heart starter appearing just 200 metres into the race.
That’s right folks, the 2.8 kilometre accent of Col du Chat will be visible from the starting line. Although its 6.8 per cent gradient shouldn’t provide too many troubles for the peloton, it is not the nicest way to ease into a stage. Pity the poor overweight sprinter who gets dropped this early!
The real action won’t start until mid-race though with the appearance of the Col du Cuvey. Rated a category one climb, it probably still comes too far from the finish of the race to be a decisive feature, but at 8.7 kilometres and 6.7 per cent, there are some who may fancy their chances of opening up a break.
They will have to be committed though, because with the 98 kilometres remaining after the climb being mainly downhill, things will more than likely come back together. The general classification contenders will probably try to keep their powder dry, hoping for a no-nonsense stage.
Of interest to Australian and British fans will be how the Yates brothers, Simon and Adam, handle the Col du Cuvey. The English-born Orica-GreenEDGE riders have the potential to become very handy GC riders and we’ll get a glimpse of their ongoing development today as they climb with the likes of Chris Froome (Sky), Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), Tejay van Garderen (BMC), Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha).
Prediction
If the sprinters don’t manage to rejoin the peloton after the Col du Curvey then look out for Australia’s own Simon Gerrans. The Orica-GreenEDGE rider has had an awful lot of bad luck this season with crashes and injuries, but appears to be back up to full form following a fifth place on last night’s Stage 1.
Join The Roar for all the Stage 2 action of the 2015 Criterium du Dauphine from 8:30pm (AEST), and be sure to leave your comments below.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Cheers mate, Big stage tomorrow.
Sean Lee
Expert
Thanks for joining me and I hope you enjoyed the coverage. It continues tomorrow night with Scott Pryde as your host. Goodnight.
Sean Lee
Expert
General classification after stage two - 1-Peter Kennaugh (Sky) 7:30:27 2-Sacha Modolo (Lampre) 0:02 3-Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) ST 4-Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R) 0:06 5-Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN) 0:08 6-Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal) 0:12 7-Yannick Martinez (Europcar) ST 8-Jay McCarthy (Tinkoff) ST 9-Ramunas Navardauskas (Cannondale) ST 10-Julian Alaphilippe (Etix) ST
Sean Lee
Expert
I'll be lurking around in the ether somewhere!
Sean Lee
Expert
All riders on same time.
Sean Lee
Expert
Stage results - 1st Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) 2nd Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R) 3rd Sacha Modolo (Lampre) 4th Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN) 5th Aleksei Tsatevich (Katusha) 6th Jonas Vangenechten (IAM) 7th Jens Keukeleire (OGE) 8th Ramunas Navardauskas (Cannondale) 9th Yannick Matinez (Europcar) 10th Luka Mezgec (Giant)
Sean Lee
Expert
Still waiting for full results, but don't forget to join us again tomorrow, and for that matter the rest of the week, for all of the action live from the Criterium du Dauphine. Scott Pryde will be your host for the TTT tomorrow evening.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Oh fun! Almost done though :) Enjoy a solid night's sleep mate. Loving these Dauphine finish times though - Means I can blog tomorrow! Might see you then - or maybe not.
Sean Lee
Expert
Cheers Scott, You can go back to your studies now!
Sean Lee
Expert
Peter Kennaugh keeps the leader's jersey. Sasha Modolo is next best, two seconds behind.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Bouhanni was always destined for a stage at some point. Thanks Sean.
Sean Lee
Expert
Full results coming shortly.
Sean Lee
Expert
Intelligent riding by Cofidis all day. They did just enough to keep things ticking over, but left most of the work to Lampre. Bouhanni finished off all their good work. "I knew I could trust my team mates," he says.
Sean Lee
Expert
1st Bouhanni 2nd Dumoulin 3rd Modolo
Sean Lee
Expert
Great work by Cofidis and a strong finish by Bouhanni. He was out front with a long way to go and managed to hold them off.
Sean Lee
Expert
Bouhanni slip streams behind Boasson Hagen then whips around him, Modolo can't go with him. BOUHANNI WINS.
Sean Lee
Expert
1km to go. MTN working hard.
Sean Lee
Expert
Crash at the back with 1.3 km to go.
Sean Lee
Expert
GreenEDGE in the mix as well.
Sean Lee
Expert
Modolo's train has recovered. They are back at the front. Cofidis not far away either.