Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Merida) won stage two of the Critérium du Dauphiné 2019 in a two-up sprint against Guillaume Martin (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) after the pair were part of an attack that went away with 35km left, in what was an attritional day of racing.
There was GC action behind them, with a group containing Chris Froome (Ineos), Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) distancing a number of other contenders on the run-in, including Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale), Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates), Riche Porte (Trek-Segafredo) and Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) who ended up finishing half a minute down.
The day's break containing Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) and Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) were caught with 35km remaining, after the Frenchman had swept up a plethora of king of the mountains points, with Serge Pauwels (CCC) then immediately going on the attack.
This took another breakaway group away, with Guillaume Martin then attacking off the front of the leaders, with only Dylan Teuns able to follow, as Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) was dropped, relinquishing the yellow jersey he had won on stage one.
Teuns and Martin managed to make the gap stick, despite Pinot testing the legs of his GC rivals on the run-in to the finish, as the leading duo taking a 22 second lead into the final 5km.
Martin seemed to time his sprint well in the finishing straight but Teuns came round him to take his first ever Dauphiné stage win and the yellow jersey. Martin is three seconds down on GC to the Belgian, with Fuglsang taking the group of favourites across the line to claim the third spot on GC, 20 seconds down on Teuns.
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How it happened
Stage two features eight categorised climbs, a route that wouldn't like out of place in the Ardennes Classics programme.
Profile route map for stage two of the Critérium du Dauphiné 2019
A breakaway of 10 riders went away early, featuring a few prominent names. Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step), Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb), Alessandro De Marchi (CCC) and Gorka Izagirre (Astana) were surprise inclusions in the selection, with Alaphilippe saying pre-race he had no ambitions for the GC, and Dumoulin uncertain over his form.
Julian Alaphilippe had clearly put himself in the break to try and take as many king of the mountains points as possible, reaching the top of the second category Côte de Moussages first, with Michał Kwiatkowski (Ineos) going over not long after before sitting up and heading back to the peloton.
Alaphilippe was also first to the summit of the Martel as well as the Côte de Cheylade, with the break taking out a 1-30 advantage over the peloton.
With 120km to go Steve Cummings (Dimension Data) abandoned the race, with no news yet as to the reasoning.
Alaphilippe continued his assault on the polka dot jersey, topping the fourth category Côte de la Tourbière du Jolan, with the gap to the peloton remaining stable at a minute and a half. By the time the Frenchman took the next points at the Côte de Chavanon, their lead had come down to just over a minute.
The rainy conditions on the road did nothing to slow the peloton down, who averaged 47.5kph in the second hour of racing, with six more riders abandoning, most notably Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis).
Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data), who took the yellow jersey after winning on stage one, had also found himself at the front of the race, with Remi Cavagna (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) attacking during the feed zone and Alaphilippe, De Marchi, Boasson Hagen and Benoît Cosnefroy (Ag2r La Mondiale) chasing him down.
The poursuivants soon caught Cavagna, with the effect being the gap over the peloton had extended back out, leaving a group containing Tom Dumoulin in between the leaders and the peloton, 25 seconds behind the front of the race and just over a minute ahead of the peloton.
However, the Dumoulin group got back on as they approached the third category Côte de la Baraque, with Dumoulin, David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Izagirre and Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) going clear up the climb, taking a minute on the rest of the group as Izagirre took them over the summit.
The Spaniard also led over the next climb, the Côte de la Barbatte, with his leading group holding a 45 second lead over the peloton.
Next up was the Côte de Saint-Victor-sur-Arlanc, a second category climb that averaged 9.4 per cent over 3.1km, 18km from the finish. The difficulty of the climb meant the leaders quickly started going backwards, and once Dumoulin, Izagirre, Gaudu and Buchmann were caught Serge Pauwels immediately attacked, taking away another breakaway group for the final 35km of racing.
The peloton had reduced to around 30 riders on the Côte de Saint-Victor-sur-Arlanc, with the new breakaway 40 seconds ahead of the peloton.
Guillaume Martin (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) then attacked off the front of the leaders, with only Dylan Teuns able to follow, as Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) was dropped from the peloton on the climb, meaning there would be a new yellow jersey at the end of the stage.
Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) attacked the group of favourites over the climb, with Michael Woods (EF Education First) straight on his wheel.
A number of GC riders were caught out by this move, with Dan Martin, Romain Bardet, Richie Porte, Tejay van Garderen and Steven Kruijswijk left behind the main GC group that contained the likes of Chris Froome, Adam Yates, Jakob Fuglsang and Nairo Quintana.
Teuns and Martin were managing to make the gap stick, despite Pinot testing the legs of his GC rivals on the run-in to the finish.
The leading duo took a 22 second lead into the final 5km, and managed to maintain it, with Martin seeming to time his sprint well in the finish straight before Teuns came round to take his first ever Dauphiné stage win.
Results
Critérium du Dauphiné 2019, stage two: Mauriac to Craponne-sur-Arzon (180km)
1. Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain-Merida, in 4-12-41
2. Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty-Groupe Gobert, at same time
3. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana, at 13 seconds
4. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
5. Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First
6. Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana
7. Petr Vakoč (Cze) Deceuninck - Quick-Step
8. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar
9. Wout Poels (Ned) Team Ineos
10. Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, all at same time
General classification after stage two
1. Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain-Merida, in 7-37-03
2. Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty-Groupe Gobert, at three seconds
3. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana, at 20s
4. Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana, at 21s
5. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, at 24s
6. Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First
7. Wout Poels (Ned) Team Ineos
8. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Ineos
9. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
10. Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, all at same time
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Jonny was Cycling Weekly's Weekend Editor until 2022.
I like writing offbeat features and eating too much bread when working out on the road at bike races.
Before joining Cycling Weekly I worked at The Tab and I've also written for Vice, Time Out, and worked freelance for The Telegraph (I know, but I needed the money at the time so let me live).
I also worked for ITV Cycling between 2011-2018 on their Tour de France and Vuelta a España coverage. Sometimes I'd be helping the producers make the programme and other times I'd be getting the lunches. Just in case you were wondering - Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen had the same ham sandwich every day, it was great.
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