Elia Viviani passes the climbs and wins the sprint in the Critérium du Dauphiné

Monday 03 June 2013 at 20h17

The second stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné 2013 was not necessarily a stage which would end in a sprint because any sprinter who would like to pretend to victory would have to be able to get over the different climbs before getting to the finish line. Elia Viviani managed to do so however, just like Gianni Meersman who got beaten by the Italian rider on the finish line.

The summary of the 2nd stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné 2013: Châtel > Oyonnax

The second stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné 2013 started early in Châtel this morning, at 9.45AM, like almost all stages of this race.

Right from the start, the young Belgian rider Gaetan Bille (Lotto-Belisol) tried to go off alone but the peloton didn't allow him to. Markel Irizar (Radioshack-Leopard) and Andriy Grivko (Astana) couldn't do it either and we finally had to wait until kilometer 22 to see Arnaud Gérard (Bretagne-Séché Environnement) attack, followed by Rudy Molard (Cofidis) and Thomas Damuseau (Team Argos-Shimano), who wanted to take revenge for yesterday and take the yersey of the KOM classification.

After an aborted counter attack, Jose Mendes (Team NetApp-Endura) starts the chase and manages to get back on the leading trio at kilometer 50, when the leading group has a gap around 3'50".

Damuseau takes the points he so desperately wanted on top of the Côte de Mornex and again on the Côte de Mons, both times ahead of Arnaud Gérard.

The peloton, led by the Europcar team of GC leader David Veilleux, keeps the gap stable, around 4'05" on this mountain top but brings it back down under 3 minutes on top of the Côte de Lancrans where Damuseau again takes the points, just like he does again on top of the Côte de Communal where the peloton is only 1'55" behind the leading group.

When the peloton comes too close to the leading group, Rudy Molard decides to attack alone and he thus takes the points on top of the Côte de Bugnon ahead of Juan Antonio Flecha (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team), who got slightly ahead of the peloton, 25 seconds later.

At 15 kilometers from the finish the adventure of the young rider of the Cofidis team is also over however and the whole bunch thus gets back together.

His team mate Rein Taaramae tries it alone in the climb of the Col du Sentier and he gets on top first. At 2 kilometers from the finish he is however also taken back and it thus all seems ready for a bunch sprint ... which will be disputed between the sprinters who managed to stay in the peloton until the last climbs.

Elia Viviani (Cannondale Pro Cycling) is one of them and on the line he beats Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), already second in yesterday's stage where he won the sprint of the peloton.

Elia Viviani who targeted the stages which arrive in Tarare (tomorrow) and Grenoble (on Friday), which will most probably finish in a sprint, thus won ahead of his goal by taken the victory in today's stage.

Since Jelle Vanendert (Lotto-Belisol) left the race, there are still 174 riders who can pretend to take over the yellow/blue jersey of the GC leader, which for now remains on the shoulders of David Veilleux.

The classifications of the Critérium du Dauphiné 2013 after the 2nd stage

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The classification of the 2nd stage: Châtel > Oyonnax

Here's the top 10 of this second stage:

1/ Elia Viviani (Cannondale Pro Cycling) - 4h39'15"
2/ Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma-QuickStep)
3/ Tony Gallopin (Radioshack-Leopard)
4/ Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (Team Argos-Shimano)
5/ Anthony Geslin (FDJ)
6/ Armindo Fonseca (Bretagne-Séché Environnement)
7/ Bram Tankink (Blanco Pro Cycling Team)
8/ Warren Barguil (Team Argos-Shimano)
9/ Juan Antonio Flecha (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
10/ Wesley Sulzberger (Orica-GreenEDGE)

General classification

The top 5 of the general classification has changed a bit with the riders who arrived among the first in today's stage ending up behind David Veilleux (Europcar) who's still leading, and Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) who keeps his second position:

1/ David Veilleux (Europcar) - 7h56'50"
2/ Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) - +1'56"
3/ Tony Gallopin (Radioshack-Leopard) - +1'57"
4/ Warren Barguil (Team Argos-Shimano)
5/ Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team)

Points classification

Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) takes the lead in the points classification:

1/ Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) - 24 points
2/ David Veilleux (Europcar) - 20 points
3/ Elia Viviani (Cannondale Pro Cycling) - 15 points
4/ Tony Gallopin (Radioshack-Leopard) - 12 points
5/ Tom Jelte Slagter (Blanco Pro Cycling Team) - 10 points

King of the Mountains classification

Thomas Damuseau (Team Argos-Shimano) takes the lead in this classification thanks to his presence in today's leading group:

1/ Thomas Damuseau (Team Argos-Shimano) - 55 points
2/ David Veilleux (Europcar) - 40 points
3/ Ricardo Garcia Ambroa (Euskaltel-Euskadi) - 28 points
4/ Jean-Marc Bideau (Bretagne-Séché Environnement) - 24 points
5/ Arnaud Gérard (Bretagne-Séché Environnement) - 15 points

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Young riders classification

Tony Gallopin becomes the best young rider for now since he climbs up in this classification in the same way as he does in the general classification:

1/ Tony Gallopin (Radioshack-Leopard) - 7h58'47"
2/ Warren Barguil (Team Argos-Shimano)
3/ Angel Madrazo (Movistar Team)
4/ Dominik Nerz (BMC Racing Team)
4/ Peter Kennaugh (Team Sky)

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Critérium du Dauphiné 2013 | Criterium du Dauphiné