Charmig powers to solo victory on Dauphiné's longest day

Anthon Charmig (Uno-X Mobility) soloed to the biggest win of his career after dropping his breakaway companions in the finale of stage 2 of the Critérium du Dauphiné in Le Puy-en-Velay.

At 234km, the stage was the longest at the Dauphiné since 2003, but Charmig was undaunted by the distance. The Dane was among the first attackers in the opening kilometres of the stage, helping to form a group of ten that would build a maximum advantage of six minutes and fight out the honours on a rugged finale.

Charmig kept his powder dry when the break began to fragment amid a flurry of attack and counterattack inside the final 50km, but he always remained firmly within contention. He would prove the strongest on the final climb of the Côte de Saint-Vidal, attacking alone over the summit with 11km to go.

Although Charmig only had a handful seconds on Raul García Pierna (Movistar) and Clément Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ United) at the top, he stretched out his buffer inexorably on the run-in, and he had ample to time to celebrate his victory in the final kilometre.

Charmig rolled home 41 seconds clear of Henri-François Renard-Haquin (Picnic PostNL) and Vlad Van Mechelen (Bahrain Victorious).

The peloton came in at 3:13 to ensure that stage 1 winner Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) remains the overall leader ahead of the pivotal team time trial on Tuesday.

Stage 2 of the rebranded Dauphiné offered a considerable test of endurance, with some 234km on the menu along some decidedly heavy roads and rugged terrain. The early climbs of the Col de Chatain and the Col de la Croix de Toutes Aures offered an obvious springboard for attackers, but the break of the day didn’t even wait for the road to rise.

Anthon Charmig (Uno-X Mobility), Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto Intermarché), Alex Diaz (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Nadav Raisberg (NSN), Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) and Henri-François Renard-Haquin (Picnic PostNL) attacked as soon as the flag dropped, and they would lead over the first climb.

Behind, Jorgan Jegat (TotalEnergies) sprang onto the offensive, and the front group would swell to ten riders over the Croix de Toutes Aures, with the Frenchman bridging up together with Clément Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ United), Raúl García Pierna (Movistar) and Vlad Van Mechelen (Bahrain Victorious).

João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who ruled himself out of the Tour de France before the Dauphiné began, was again struggling off the back of the peloton here, though the Portuguese rider managed to make it back on once the early climbs had been digested.

The ten-man break quickly established a maximum lead of six minutes over the peloton, putting Braz Afonso in the virtual race lead, with EF Education-EasyPost setting the pace in the peloton.

At the midpoint and the Col Robert Marchand, the break still had 5:20 in hand on the bunch and that status quo remained in place even when the heavens opened early in the afternoon. Come the final 60km, EF’s work had seen the break’s lead drop inside five minutes, which took Braz Afonso out of the virtual race lead.

The unity of the break fragmented with 46km to go, when Veistroffer and Braz Afonso forged clear on an unclassified climb, opening a small gap over their companions. They carried a lead of 25 seconds into the foot of the Côte des Baraques with 35km to go, and Braz Afonso pressed on alone once the gradient began to bite. 

At the summit, Brazo Afonso had 20 seconds in hand on García Pierna and Van Mechelen, but he opted to wait for them over the other side. With 20km to go, the front group would swell to seven once again as Charmig, Jegat, Thomas and Renard-Haquin caught up.

The septet worked together towards the foot of the final ascent of the Côte de Saint-Vidal with 13km to go. Thomas attempted to steal a march by attacking before the climb began, but his move petered out as the gradient ramped up.

Once on the climb, Charmig pressed clear and he crested the summit with a small lead over García Pierna and Braz Afonso. The Dane stretched his lead out to a dozen seconds with 7km to go as he sped towards the biggest win of his career to date.