Critérium Dauphiné: Stage 2

Primoz Roglic solo’s to victory in the mountains to continue Jumbo Visma’s domination of races on stage 2 of the Critérium Dauphiné – post race reactions from the riders

Critérium Dauphiné: Stage 2

Roglic impresses with stage victory and yellow in Criterium du Dauphiné

Primoz Roglic has claimed yet another victory for Team Jumbo-Visma. The Slovenian leader was supreme on the Col de Porte and climbed to the second consecutive stage victory for his team in the Criterium du Dauphiné. The champion rider also takes over the overall lead from teammate Wout van Aert. For Roglic it is his fifth victory of the season.

On the stage with the finish on top of the Col de Porte, an early breakaway was successfully controlled by Jumbo Visma’s Tony Martin, Robert Gesink and overall leader Van Aert. After Team Ineos had done its job on the final climb, Sepp Kuss pulled through and kept going with Roglic following on his wheel. Going into the final kilometre, Roglic accelerated, after which no one was able to follow. Tom Dumoulin had a mechanical at the start of the climb and, like Steven Kruijswijk, he had to give in a little more than a minute.

“It is a good result for our team”, Roglic said. “We have shown once again that we prepared well for these races. The whole team did a great job and I am glad I was able to finish it off. We knew it was going to be a difficult stage with a tough final climb. Perhaps the toughest this week. We controlled the stage from the start. The boys were very strong and we finished it perfectly. I am very happy with this victory. I certainly cannot complain with how it is going after having won the Tour de l’Ain and this stage. I am happy with every race I can ride this year and I am very happy with the way things are going now. Both for me and for the team. But we are not there yet. The next three days are going to be tough and we have to stay sharp and focused.”

Thibaut Pinot: “The stage went good, I had good feelings,” said the Frenchman. “There was just a stronger one today. We must therefore be satisfied with this second place. Right now, I think Roglic is better than the rest. Behind, we are ten or so at the same level. Personally, I feel that I made progress since the Route d’Occitanie and that’s what’s important. I now have three good days in the mountains to continue doing the best I can”.

…. continued after the advert.

Emanuel Buchmann “I felt very strong today, even though the pace was relatively fast. In the end, I tried to attack and just see what happens. I took 3rd in the end, which isn’t so bad. The level is very high here, there were lots of riders still present in the final stage of the race, something we wouldn’t have expected, and they looked to be in good form, so in the end, we more or less had an uphill sprint to the line. Roglic looked very strong, and he’s definitely the favourite. But we’ll keep trying over the next few days. Today was certainly a good test for the upcoming stages, as well as for the Tour de France, and I think it shows that I’m one of the stronger riders here. My performance bodes well for the next few days at the Dauphiné.”

Adam Yates: “My first race back and straight back into it with the first mountain top finish since coming back for the restart of the season. I’m kind of where I expected to be after quite a serious illness a few weeks ago, so all in all I knew I wouldn’t be up there with the best today, but in general all things are moving in the right direction.”

Chris Froome: “It’s incredible to be back in the peloton, but keeping in mind I’ve only had a handful of days racing in over a year’s time now. Obviously I’m still finding the race rhythm but I’m feeling better and better as I do more days of racing. I’m feeling optimistic about the Tour.

“Egan has done really well in Occitanie and Tour de l’Ain. We had a victory and a second place, so the whole team here is trying to look after Egan and try to put him in the best place to go for the victory. Every day is a test and every day is about pushing the condition. I’m really happy with the progress I’ve made so far – it’s been really encouraging.”

Warren Barguil: “It was not an easy stage. I was also caught up in the fall that occurred a few kilometers from the foot of the Col de Porte. I had previously done work for Nairo, along with Diego Rosa. I tried to put Nairo on the small climb before the last pass of the day, but then lost a few positions before the bottom of the last difficulty of the day, the Col de Porte. I lost contact three miles from the summit. I hope to regain the level I had in Occitania in the coming days so that I can help Nairo as much as possible. ”

Nairo Quintana: “It was still a good stage, I was able to follow the best as the day before, being well all day with a good job from the Arkéa-Samsic team, and in the end I was in the group of favorites. Now I’m going to take race day by day trying to get better and better”.

Miguel Angel Lopez: “It was a short, but intense and tough stage with a big climb in the final, which asked from the riders to have enough power to resist to high pace. Well, I am quite happy with my performance, I finished with the best riders today and this motivates me for the next days. Day by day my form is growing up and everything looks like is going by plan. The team worked pretty well today, I had a good support from my teammates, so we spent a nice day. Tomorrow we will have another hard day in the mountains, I hope to improve more, so let’s see how the race will go on”.

Result
1. Primoz Roglic Team Jumbo – Visma 03:39:40
2. Thibaut Pinot Groupama-FDJ @ 08
3. Emanuel Buchmann Bora-Hansgrohe
4. Guillaume Martin Cofidis
5. Nairo Quintana Team Arkea-Samsic @ 10
6. Miguel Angel Lopez Astana Pro Team
7. Daniel Martinez EF Pro Cycling
8. Mikel Landa Bahrain-McLaren
9. Richie Porte Trek-Segafredo
10. Egan Bernal Team Ineos

13. Romain Bardet AG2R La Mondiale @ 59
14. Tom Dumoulin Team Jumbo – Visma @ 59
15. Tadej Pogacar UAE Team Emirates @ 01:01
21. Alejandro Valverde Movistar Team @ 01:37
22. Pierre Rolland B&B Hotels-Vital Concept @ 01:37
23. Adam Yates Mitchelton-Scott @ 01:37
24. Rigoberto Uran EF Pro Cycling @ 01:37
25. Warren Barguil Team Arkea-Samsic @ 01:55
32. Geraint Thomas Team Ineos @ 02:53
36. Julian Alaphilippe Deceuninck-Quick Step @ 04:41
49. Chris Froome Team Ineos @ 08:32
75. Mark Donovan Team Sunweb @ 15:09
85. Wout Van Aert Team Jumbo – Visma @ 16:59
118. Hugh Carthy EF Pro Cycling @ 24:14
125. Peter Sagan Bora-Hansgrohe @ 24:41
142. James Knox Deceuninck-Quick Step @ 25:01

Overall
1. Primoz Roglic Team Jumbo – Visma 09:07:12
2. Thibaut Pinot Groupama-FDJ @ 12
3. Emanuel Buchmann Bora-Hansgrohe @ 14
4. Egan Bernal Team Ineos @ 16
5. Guillaume Martin Cofidis @ 18
6. Nairo Quintana Team Arkea-Samsic @ 20
7. Richie Porte Trek-Segafredo
8. Mikel Landa Bahrain-McLaren
9. Miguel Angel Lopez Astana Pro Team
10. Daniel Martinez EF Pro Cycling

Full results here