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Tuesday, June 6, 2023

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2022 Tour de France | 2022 Giro d'Italia

It wasn't until late in life that I discovered how easy it is to say, 'I don't know.' - W. Somerset Maugham

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Plato's dialogue Crito is available both in audiobook and Kindle eBook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Current racing:

• June 4 - 11: Critérium du Dauphiné

Upcoming racing:

• June 7 - 11: ZLM Tour
• June 11 - 18: Tour de Suisse

Latest completed racing:

• June 4: Brussels Cycling Classic
• June 2: Giro dell'Appennino
• May 26 - 29: Tour of Norway
• May 6 - 29: Giro d'Italia
• May 16 - 21: 4 Jours du Dunkerque
• May 21: Rund um Köln
• May 20: Veenendaal - Veenendaal Classic
• May 7: Tro-Bro Léon
• May 6: GP du Morbihan
• May 1: Eschborn-Frankfurt

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Critérium du Dauphiné stage two reports

We posted the race organizer's report with the results.

Here's the report from stage winner Julian Alaphilippe's Team Soudal Quick-Step:

Julian Alaphilippe was just unstoppable on stage two of the Critérium du Dauphiné, pouncing to an emphatic success in La Chaise-Dieu, a small town in the Haute-Loire department, which the peloton visited for the first time. By taking this win, Julian became the most successful active French rider at the World Tour race, with three stages and a KOM jersey to his name in seven participations.

Julian Alaphilippe wins stage two. Sirotti photo

There were plenty of hills on the road again at the Dauphiné Tuesday afternoon, four of which were classified, and Soudal Quick-Step was one of the only two teams to work behind the breakaway, which was easily reeled in with ten kilometers to go, on the Côte des Guêtes. Going over the top, a few riders tried to surprise the bunch with an all-out attack, but they too were caught before the last kilometer, which Julian entered seventh wheel.

The double World Champion raced smartly as things heated up, getting himself in a perfect slot and launching a devastating sprint 200 meters from the line down the center of the road just as the gradient stiffened. Alaphilippe easily came past Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), putting a bike length into his opponents, as he celebrated his 41st victory in the pro ranks and the team’s 26th success of the season.

“It wasn’t easy to take the win today, but it feels great to have done it. These past couple of months haven’t been easy, but I kept my passion and worked hard in the last couple of weeks, and now I’m delighted I could feel the taste of winning again. Coming into the race, my goal was to get a victory here, and now that I have accomplished that, I remain motivated for the rest of the week, as I want to give my best”, said Julian, who climbed to second overall. “My gesture when crossing the line was about staying calm. When it goes well, it goes well. When it doesn’t happen, you need to keep working hard, which I did.”

GC leader Christophe Laporte's Team Jumbo-Visma posted this stage two report:

Christophe Laporte has sprinted to fourth place in the second stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné. The Frenchman of Team Jumbo-Visma retained the yellow leader's jersey. A big blemish on the second day was the crash of Steven Kruijswijk early in the stage.

Christophe Laporte will start stage three in yellow. Sirotti photo

Right after the start in Brassac-les-Mins, things went wrong for Grischa Niermann's riders. Kruijswijk, riding the Dauphiné in preparation for next month's Tour de France, crashed hard and had to leave the eight-day race early. Hospital tests revealed that he had broken his collarbone and suffered a pelvic fracture. "It's a big loss for the team. And it's very upsetting for Steven", teammate Laporte said.

Seven riders had launched an early escape, but they were unable to establish a strong lead. Team Jumbo-Visma remained alert all day and caught the break well before the finish. Laporte was in an excellent position to challenge for the stage win. Again, Jonas Vingegaard provided a great lead-out, but the Frenchman was unable to capitalise on his teammates' excellent work this time.

"The team did really well, just like in the first stage", Laporte said. "Unfortunately, my legs weren't good enough to win. It was a really tough stage. The last five kilometres were very fast. It was not the plan for Jonas to do another lead-out for me, but he did a fantastic job again. Unfortunately, I couldn't reward the team today."

The race's longest stage is scheduled for tomorrow. As the leader of the general classification, Laporte will start again in the yellow jersey. "It's very nice, of course. It's always great to be at the top of the general classification. Especially the yellow leader's jersey has something special in France."

Team Groupama-FDJ posted this report:

Just like Sunday, the GC contenders did not show themselves on stage 2 of the Critérium du Dauphiné towards Chaise-Dieu on Monday. On a hilly course, they however needed to finish safely, as the day before. On the line, Julian Alaphilippe won the sprint, while David Gaudu arrived in the peloton with three of his teammates. The Frenchman is now in nineteenth place overall as a more or less similar scenario is expected tomorrow at Le Coteau.

For the second day in a row, a proper battle took shape quite early, on the Critérium du Dauphiné. Almost surprised by Rune Herregodts on Sunday, the peloton was indeed forced to set a good tempo right from the first kilometres of stage 2, after it let a strong seven-man breakaway go at the start. Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Dstny), Nans Peters (AG2R Citroën), Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo), Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies), Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X Pro Cycling), Andrea Piccolo (EF Education-EasyPost) and Donavan Grondin (Arkéa-Samsic) opened the breach after some fast twenty kilometres, but Jumbo-Visma and Soudal-Quick Step quickly took command.

The peloton gets going at the start city of Brassac-les-Mines.

They maintained the gap under two minutes, aware of the risk of letting these riders gain ground. Therefore, as they passed the finish line for the first time with 70k to go, the leading men were already brought back to just one minute. The riders then started two laps of a demanding circuit, with the Côte des Guêtes (1 km at 7.5%) as the major obstacle. “It was another grippy day, with a strong tempo all day”, testified Reuben Thompson. “My job today was to keep position before we reached the circuit and to help in any other way I could. Since I felt really good, I was able to help keep position a lot further into the final.

In the front, the breakaway gradually broke apart, and on the last lap, Victor Campenaerts and Kenny Elissonde pushed their attempt up until to the côte des Guêtes. The duo was caught about ten kilometres from the finish, then it was Tobias Bayer who tried to surprise the bunch. Although the latter was a bit reduced due to the high tempo, it was still big enough to lead the chase for a final sprint. Several teams therefore got to work while David Gaudu, surrounded by his teammates, kept his position in the upper part of the pack. Due to the slightly uphill finish, the punchers got the better of the sprinters and Julian Alaphilippe won the stage. David Gaudu finished in the same time, in 29th position.

“The stage was done at a very solid pace,” explained Philippe Mauduit later. “Jumbo-Visma maintained the breakaway not far away because Elissonde was in a good position overall. Our guys were gathered around David, and they carried out the mission they had”. On Monday evening, the rider from Groupama-FDJ entered the top-20 overall, in nineteenth position, ten seconds behind the yellow jersey still worn by Christophe Laporte. Reuben Thompson finished two minutes behind his leader but satisfied with a job well done. “It’s an honor to ride for David,” he confided. “It’s also great to have Lada and others to guide me. I was a little bit unsure of my shape after taking a big break after Romandie, but I’m feeling quite good, and I think I’ll be able to improve my level a lot after a hard 8 days of racing here”.

And here's the update from Team INEOS Grenadiers:

Dani Martinez, Egan Bernal and Carlos Rodriguez all emerged well through the opening pair of stages at the Criterium du Dauphine.

The team's GC trio finished safely in the peloton as a bunch sprint concluded the stage stage, with Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal - Quick-Step) taking the victory.

Protected well by their team-mates, after Tuesday's third stage attention quickly turns to the GC picture, with a key time trial on Wednesday.

Sadly the team were forced to start the second stage without sprinter Ethan Hayter following his abandonment on Sunday. Without Hayter the gameplan shifted to the bigger GC picture.

Bernal sits 13th, Rodriguez 20th and Martinez 34th, all just 10 seconds back on the yellow jersey of Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma).

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