Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) sprinted to a mountains victory and the yellow jersey on stage two of the Critérium du Dauphiné.
The Dane sped throughout the road in thick mist after the bunch chased down breakaway rider Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) on the prime of the Col de la Loge.
He took over the chief’s jersey from stage one winner Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), who was dropped with a number of kilometres to go to the end, dropping greater than 4 minutes.
“It is superb,” stated Cort afterwards. “I did not have one of the best begin to the season – I struggled just a little bit, I did not get any large outcomes, then had an harm at Tirreno [Adriatico] and was out for a very long time. It is superb to return again and take a stage win right here.”
He had been “very a lot on the restrict” on the ultimate climb he stated, which rose in steps. He described how his group would take him again to the entrance on the simpler components so he might fortunately lose floor on the steeper sections.
“They delivered me completely within the closing,” he added. “It is a correct large race, so a pacesetter’s jersey within the Dauphiné, that is one thing to recollect for the remainder of my profession.”
The way it occurred
With sprinter-puncheur Pedersen within the yellow jersey after yesterday’s lumpy however not mountainous outing, at present’s 142km stage was all the time prone to see a big GC reshuffle, with the final 25km all uphill and taking in a second class (Col de la Saint-Georges-en-Couzan) and third class (Col de la Croix Ladret) climbs earlier than persevering with as much as the end on the Col de la Loge.
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Predictably, an early break went nearly from the gun, with Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Mathis Le Berre (Arkéa-B&B Resorts), Filippo Conca (Q36.5 Professional Biking), Xandro Meurisse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Jonas Gregaard (Lotto-Dstny) settling in and constructing a helpful hole over a lumpy first half of the stage, that grew to greater than 4 minutes at one stage.
Within the closing 40 kilometres of what was a comparatively brief time out, the peloton started to pay the break extra consideration, and the hole slowly started to cut back.
The break managed to remain away lengthy sufficient to move the Col de la Saint-Georges-en-Couzan forward of the pack, which additionally noticed Le Berre securing the KoM jersey for the next day, stealing it away from Conca’s team-mate Mark Donovan.
With 10km to go Armirail attacked the group, and whereas he solely had a 32-second hole with 8km to go, he managed to carry off a bunch that was shedding riders – together with Pedersen – left, proper and centre and appeared as if he might nicely have taken victory till he was swallowed up within the final kilometre by Cort and a charging Uno-X Mobility.
Outcomes
Critérium du Dauphiné 2024 stage two
1. Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) in 3:21:42
2. Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe)
3. Matteo Jorgensen (Visma-Lease a motorcycle)
4. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek)
5. Oier Lazkano (Movistar)
6. Dylan Teuns (Israel-Premier Tech)
7. Lukas Nururkar (EF Training-EasyPost)
8. Clément Champoussin (Arkéa-B&B Resorts)
9. Romain Grégoire (Groupama FDJ)
10. Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) all at identical time
Normal Classification
1. Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) in 7:23:02
2. Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe) +4sec
3. Matteo Jorgensen (Visma-Lease a motorcycle) +6sec
4. Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +8sec
5. Clément Champoussin (Arkéa-B&B Resorts) +10sec
6. Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech)
7. Oier Lazkano (Movistar)
8. Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech)
9. Juan Ayuso (UAE Staff Emirates)
10. Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious) all at identical time