Van der Poel challenges winner Milan in stage 2 sprint at the Dauphiné after UAE–Visma battle

Sprinting on day one? Well, that happened, but not with the riders expected to win. Pogacar stayed ahead of Vingegaard on Sunday, with the world champion also beating Van der Poel (third) and Evenepoel (fourth) in the same sprint. On day two, a similar stage was on the program, again with a tricky climb in the final. The sprinters' teams were warned!

From the start, several riders, including Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck), took the lead, but only Paul Ourselin really managed to break away. The Frenchman from Cofidis was allowed to ride away and was given a comfortable lead by the peloton. Ourselin, who had already taken the mountain jersey on day one, was thus able to score extra mountain points, as there were quite a few categorized climbs in the first part of the stage.

Ourselin stayed ahead for a long time, resulting in a long phase without any action. However, the action picked up again with about 100 kilometers to go. Victor Guernalec (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Romain Combaud (Picnic PostNL), and Christopher Juul-Jensen caught up with the leader, forming a leading group of four. The peloton did not give the four much breathing room, though. They kept the attackers at about a minute and a half.

Those attackers had a pretty scary moment 70 kilometers from the finish. A car seemed to be entering the course but managed to brake at the last moment. The breakaway riders were understandably shocked, and we saw some hand gestures directed at the driver. That was a close call!

The pace picked up at the front and peloton on the Côte du Château de Buron (3.2 kilometers at 6.9%). This allowed Guernalec to break away with Juul-Jensen at Combaud and the exhausted Ourselin, while Magnus Cort (Uno-X) and then Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) dropped back from the pack. These were important names with the stage win in sight, so Lidl-Trek pulled out all the stops to bring their sprinter back.

With 42 kilometers to go, the riders passed the finish line in Issoire for the first time. At that point, the breakaway riders had been caught, and Milan had been brought back into the peloton. Cort was also back in the pack, which meant we entered the final with a complete peloton.

We saw the big teams suddenly move up at the front in the final. In the open terrain, everyone wanted to be at the front in case of echelons, but the accelerations were only very short-lived. At the front, we saw some tension between UAE Emirates-XRG and Visma | Lease a Bike. Nils Politt bumped shoulders with Per Strand Hagenes, and neither rider seemed happy. A brief discussion ensued, after which Politt appeared to be provoking the young Norwegian once again.

The peloton went full throttle towards the Côte de Nonette, the day's last climb. Romain Bardet, retiring after this stage race, lit the fuse and accelerated out of the pack. The Frenchman from Picnic PostNL came out on top solo, with a lead of about twelve seconds over the peloton. Entering the last ten kilometers, Bardet was still fighting for the victory, but his lead was only a few seconds, after which the local rider was caught.

After the GC teams took the initiative, the sprinters' teams came to the front in the final kilometers. In the last kilometer, Jonathan Milan had the best train, with three teammates from Lidl-Trek in front of him. Jasper Stuiven and Edward Theuns provided the lead-out after the last corner, giving the Italian rider a clear path to victory.

Van der Poel seemed to be able to catch up with Milan on the long section, but the speed of the Southern European was too high, preventing Van der Poel from overtaking him. The world champion in cyclo-cross still finished third, leaving him only two seconds behind in the GC.