As it happened: Breakaway succeeds for second day in a row at Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes – Critérium du Dauphiné stage 2

2026-06-08T15:16:42.130Z

Bike change

Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek)

He was caught inside the final kilometre so should get the same time as the peloton.

2026-06-08T15:15:45.949Z

Peloton comes to the line led in by Finn Fisher-Black (RBH).

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-06-08T15:13:06.950Z

Henri-François Renard-Haquin takes second on the day ahead of Vlad Van Mechelen, Raul Garcia Pierna and Clement Braz Afonso.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-06-08T15:11:45.982Z

Anton Charmig wins stage 2 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes 2026!

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-06-08T15:11:10.635Z

500 metres to go as Raul Garcia Pierna attacks the chase group but it will come down to a four-up sprint for second.

1000 metres remain for Charmig with 40″ back to the chasers and he knows he’s got it. A huge smile as he punches the air.

2026-06-08T15:09:55.866Z

2km to go for Charmig and he is riding to his first WorldTour win in the beautiful Le Puy-en-Velay.

2026-06-08T15:07:39.469Z

In the peloton, Lidl-Trek have taken control of the pacing.

2026-06-08T15:07:23.692Z

4km to go for the Danish rider.

2026-06-08T15:07:11.461Z

Van Mechelen and Renard-Haquin rejoin Braz Afonso and Garcia Pierna as they are 30″ back on Charmig.

Anton Charmig is flying now and he has 25″ on the chasers.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-06-08T15:03:25.235Z

Decathlon-CMA CGM are closing this attack down as they go over the top of the climb, but interesting tactics as they are only riding for time and some of the riders involved aren’t involved in the GC.

Charmig has 10″ on Braz Afonso and Garcia Pierna. It is 3’13” back to the peloton.

Santiago Buitrago (TBV)
With two Picnic-PostNL riders.

They are joined by a few other riders too as the peloton is getting very active.

2026-06-08T15:00:16.979Z

Renard-Haquin joins Van Mechelen in the chae, as well.

2026-06-08T14:59:59.510Z

Charmig goes over the top of the Côte de Saint-Vidal as Braz Afonso gaps Garcia Pierna.

Anton Charmig (UXM)

The Dane gets a gap and Garcia Pierna goes after him with Braz Afonso, but neither can close the gap and Charmig is kicking clear.

2026-06-08T14:58:50.943Z

500 metres from the top of the Côte de Saint-Vidal and Van Mechelen is about to make the catch with Renard-Haquin also coming across as Thomas and Jegat struggling.

2026-06-08T14:58:13.477Z

Van Mechelen is bridging to the leaders as well. An absolutely superb ride by him. He probably has the fastest sprint.

2026-06-08T14:57:31.377Z

Interesting that Jegat isn’t able to follow these moves but he is still with Thomas, Renard-Haquin and Van Mechelen.

2026-06-08T14:56:32.480Z

Garcia Pierna goes across and bridges very well to Charmig and Braz Afonso.

2026-06-08T14:55:50.009Z

Onto the final climb, Côte de Saint-Vidal 2km at 7.4% with Charmig, Braz Afonso and Thomas getting a small gap. Thomas does quickly get dropped, though.

2026-06-08T14:55:05.448Z

Thomas pushing clear on the descent to get a head start on the Côte de Saint-Vidal. The Cofidis rider is flying down the descent with Charmig, another superb descender, following with the others being gapped.

2026-06-08T14:51:57.013Z

Healy returns to the front to work for Baudin. Lidl-Trek also moves up.

2026-06-08T14:51:37.038Z

Netcompany-Ineos and Uno-X Mobility hit the front of the peloton are are looking very aggresive as Diaz is caught from the break. Decathlon-CMA CGM and UAE Team Emirates-XRG take over to try and calm things down.

2026-06-08T14:49:59.887Z

17km to go:

Clement Braz Afonso (GFC)
Raul Garcia Pierna (MOV)
Vlad Van Mechelen (TBV)
Anton Charmig (UXM)
Benjamin Thomas (COF)
Henri-François Renard-Haquin (TPP)
Jordan Jegat (TEN)

Peloton +4’38”

2026-06-08T14:47:07.739Z

Just under 5 minutes back is the peloton led by Ben Healy for his EF Education-EasyPost leader Baudin with two other riders with Baudin including Sean Quinn.

2026-06-08T14:46:21.114Z

Charmig puts in a big effort on a descent to shut the gap and that brings the groups together with Charmig immediately attacking. Thomas goes through the group to bring him back and now they settle into working.

2026-06-08T14:44:58.574Z

It is extremely close for the two groups but it does look like we will get a seven man group before final categorised climb of the day, the Côte de Saint-Vidal.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-06-08T14:43:00.870Z

The leading trio only have 8″ on the four chasers. It is so tight on the now dry roads.

2026-06-08T14:40:04.129Z

Braz Afonso could see Garcia Pierna and Van Mechelen and decided to wait. They are now working together but the four chasers of Charmig, Jegat, Renard-Haquin and Thomas are just 11″ back.

Braz Afonso has 20″ on the Garcia Pierna and Van Mechelen group then a firther 5″ to the group of Thomas, Charmig, Renard-Haquin and Jegat with Veistroffer further back. The peloton now at 5’23”.

2026-06-08T14:32:33.718Z

Braz Afonso goes over the climb and takes the virtual lead in the KOM classification.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-06-08T14:28:28.142Z

The peloton have fought hard to get onto the climb and now seem very relaxed with UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Alpecin-Premier Tech leading the way at 5’36”.

2026-06-08T14:27:16.734Z

Veistroffer caught and dropped by Garcia Pierna and Van Mechelen.

Raul Garcia Pierna (MOV)
Vlad Van Mechelen (TBV)

They’re looking to bridge the gap of 27″ to Braz Afonso who has now dropped Veistroffer.

2026-06-08T14:23:59.656Z

Braz Afonso starting to gap Veistroffer on the climb, which isn’t too surprising.

He gets that change after a puncture.

Veistroffer and Braz Afonso are riding hard and have got 15″ on the rest of the original break with 5’10” to the peloton.

Veistroffer (LOI)
Braz Afonso (GFC)

The French duo go clear with little reaction from the rest of the break.

The break have stabilised the gap to the peloton at 4’46”.

2026-06-08T14:02:19.084Z

Bike change

Alex Diaz (CJR)

The Spaniard in the break should get back in easily.

1. Raisberg (NSN) 10pts
2. Jegat (TEN) 6pts
3. Diaz (CJR) 4pts

2026-06-08T13:10:43.512Z

The gap goes back out to 6’00” for the break. Can they start getting excited for a possible second breakaway win in a row?

2026-06-08T13:08:48.056Z

The break are about to cross the line at Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid for the intermediate sprint.

2026-06-08T13:00:13.958Z

Abandons

Roel van Sintmaartensdijk (Lotto-Intermarché)
Gorka Sorrarain (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA)

The riders have been flying along today and are already within 100km to the finish. The gap has restabilised at 5’45” between the break and peloton as the race looks pretty calm and under control.

2026-06-08T12:53:33.473Z

The riders, once again, continue climbing after the KOM point. But once they crest the climb they have a brief descent and then it is the intermediate sprint in Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid where 10, 6 and 4 points are available.

1. Thomas (COF) 5pts
2. Braz Afonso (GFC) 3pts
3. Raisberg (NSN) 2pts
4. Jegat (TEN) 1pt

Thomas is now 2 points off levelling up on points with Baudin while Braz Afonso moves up to joint third on 11 points, just three points off Baudin.

2026-06-08T12:49:51.988Z

Renard-Haquin has been receiving treatment at the doctors car after his crash in the break.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-06-08T12:42:59.495Z

The break are 1km from the top of the Col Robert Marchand. There are 5, 3, 2 and 1 points available.

2026-06-08T12:39:32.217Z

The average speed after three hours of racing is an amazing 40.5kph. Considering they have done Almost 2000 metres of elevation gain in that time.

The gap is starting to go up again, 5’45” now splits the break and bunch.

2026-06-08T12:32:37.141Z

Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) was left frustrated after he lost 12″ to Netcompany-Ineos rivals Onley and Vauquelin, despite having teammates Tulett and Armirail in that group.

2026-06-08T12:30:58.983Z

It has started raining.

2026-06-08T12:29:52.038Z

Clement Braz Afonso is back into the virtual lead with the gap going back to 5’40”.

2026-06-08T12:28:38.351Z

It has been a tough month for Almeida who missed out on his Giro ride due to illness and now can’t see how he will make the Tour team as he struggles through the race here. La Vuelta is now the Portuguese rider’s main goal this season…

2026-06-08T12:18:11.405Z

A special day for Baudin to be in yellow for the longest stage of the race.

The French rider in the break goes down but is back riding again and quickly rejoins the breakaway.

2026-06-08T12:08:36.434Z

Braz Afonso is no longer virtual leader as the time gap drops to 5’30”.

2026-06-08T12:03:11.998Z

Braz Afonso clings onto the virtual lead by 5″!

2026-06-08T12:02:51.182Z

As the road goes upwards the time gap drops downward t0 5’40”.

2026-06-08T12:02:28.679Z

The riders start to climb some foothills before heading onto the third categorised climb of the day, the 10.9km Col Robert Marchand that has an average gradient of 4.4%.

2026-06-08T11:57:24.416Z

The peloton seem pretty happy with the time gap where it is. Maybe in about 20 or 30 kilometres time we could see a team like Netcompany-Ineos come to the front to try and bring the gap down to go for the stage win with Godon. That said, they have Onley and Vauquelin very well places in GC.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-06-08T11:44:20.592Z

After a brief dive in time gap, the break have got it back to 6’00” again.

2026-06-08T11:43:10.497Z

Fancy staying at Thibaut Pinot’s farm for three nights for FREE during the Tour de France next month? Well, this may be the deal for you! You and up to five others can stay at a beautifully finished house with pool in the Vosges mountains as part of a collaboration between Airbnb, Pinot and the Tour de France to show off Pinot’s home region.

You will have a BBQ with Pinot and his family, he will take you on a tour of the farm, in a car at the stage as well as a helicopter and behind the scenes at the start and finish. A money can’t buy experience? Definitely… It is free! It becomes available on June 19th and is only available for the period stated on the Airbnb pag.

2026-06-08T11:37:37.284Z

After two hours of racing the average speed is at a frighteningly fast 40.3kph!

2026-06-08T11:37:04.629Z

A big chunk of time has been sliced off the break’s lead with the gap down to 5’50” with 150km to go.

Into the final 100 miles of the stage and the break are still increasing their gap on the peloton with the time gap now sat at 6’20”.

2026-06-08T11:23:23.974Z

There was a lot of excited rumours whizzing around the Belgian cycling media when Remco Evenepoel’s bike was spotted at this race while he wasn’t on the startlist to race. Was the TT world champion about to pull another surprise on the media? No, he wasn’t. Here is why his bike was there, it is a logistical reason…

2026-06-08T11:17:34.600Z

Crash

Nicola Conci (XDS-Astana)

The Italian is quick to get back on the bike and riding, though.

2026-06-08T11:13:21.619Z

The break extend their advantage on the flatter terrain and drag their gap out to 6’10” over the peloton with Braz Afonso now the virtual race leader.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-06-08T11:08:58.462Z

The riders now have a pretty long stretch of valley road before heading onto the third climb of the day.

EF Education-EasyPost unsurprisingly lead the peloton for race leader, Baudin. Behind them in the line is Decathlon-CMA CGM then UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Visma-Lease a Bike. It is as you would expect in the bunch who are 5’25” behind the 10 man break.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-06-08T10:51:59.383Z

It was a tough return to racing for Wout Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) yesterday after the Belgian star crashed in training while out on his TT bike…

2026-06-08T10:49:12.737Z

Almeida and co have ridden the descent of the Col de la Croix de Toutes Aures very well and have rejoined the peloton again. The race is now split into the 10 man break and the peloton, who are 5’45” further back on the course.

2026-06-08T10:42:08.533Z

The gap between the break and peloton has come down slightly to 5’10”. The peloton do need to be careful as Clement Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ United) is sat at 5’49” in GC.

2026-06-08T10:36:35.480Z

1. Thomas (COF) 2pts
2. Diaz (CJR) 1pt

Thomas is now on 7 points in the KOM classification. He is 5th in the standings and needed another 7 points to draw level with Baudin. The next climb has a max of 5 points available.

2026-06-08T10:26:42.565Z

The chase group joins the leaders as they go over the top of the Col de la Croix de Toutes Aures making it a lead group of 10 riders.

2026-06-08T10:23:53.591Z

NOw just 10″ splitting the groups of the Col de la Croix de Toutes Aures.

2026-06-08T10:22:56.191Z

The chasing group are finally starting to close the gap to the leaders with it now dropping to 20″.

2026-06-08T10:21:31.719Z

The leaders start the Col de la Croix de Toutes Aures.

2026-06-08T10:19:21.697Z

The peloton have well and truly let the riders up the road go. 10 riders are clear split in half with 30″ splitting the two groups of five. The peloton is now at 5’40”.

Break:

Anton Charmig (UXM)
Alex Diaz (CJR)
Benjamin Thomas (COF)
Nadav Raisburg (NSN)
Henri-François Renard-Haquin (TPP)

Chase +30″

Baptiste Veistroffer (LOI)
Jordan Jegat (TEN)
Raul Garcia Pierna (MOV)
Clement Braz Afonso (GFC)
Vlad Van Mechelen (TBV)

Peloton +5’40”

2026-06-08T10:17:43.346Z

The chasing group of five riders are still at around 30″ from the five man leading group after the first climb.

They have some undulating terrain to tackle and then it is onto the second climb, the 2.8km Col de la Croix de Toutes Aures with an average of 6.1%. It is actually longer than that, the KOM line isn’t at the top, for some reason.

1. Thomas (COF) 5pts
2. Charmig (UXM) 3pts
3. Raisberg (NSN) 2pts
4. Renard-Haquin (TPP) 1pt

2026-06-08T10:06:25.560Z

João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) continues to struggle through the early stages of the race and is out of the back of the peloton again.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Raul Garcia Pierna (MOV)
Clement Braz Afonso (GFC)
Vlad Van Mechelen (TBV)

They quickly bridge to Jegat who has also caught Veistroffer. They are 30″ back on the leaders with the peloton sitting up and are now at 2’00”.

Break:

Anton Charmig (UXM)
Alex Diaz (CJR)
Benjamin Thomas (COF)
Nadav Raisburg (NSN)
Henri-François Renard-Haquin (TPP)

Chase +10″

Baptiste Veistroffer (LOI)

Chase +30″

Jordan Jegat (TEN)

Peloton +50″

2026-06-08T09:59:22.284Z

Veistroffer has been distanced by the break. The big Frenchman has a large frame to haul over these mountains and can’t quite keep the pace for the moment.

Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies)

The Frenchman who finished 10th at last year’s Tour de France lost a huge amount of time yesterday thanks to a badly timed puncture. But now he can go for stages and he is starting here with this move. He is currently solo at 45″ from the leaders.

2026-06-08T09:52:45.640Z

Meanwhile, riders are being dropped from the peloton.

Phil Bauhaus (TBV)
Roel van Sintmaartensdijk (LOI)
Matevž Govekar (TBV)

Among others. While Edoardo Affini (TVL) has a mechanical.

2026-06-08T09:51:24.969Z

The chase group has been caught as they head onto the first climb of the day, the 7.9km Col de Chatain which has an average gradient of 5.7%.

2026-06-08T09:48:00.282Z

The break are still pushing hard and have extended their gap on the chasers to 45″ and 1’02” to the peloton.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Michael Matthews (JAY)
Martin Svrček (SOQ)
Callum Thornley (RBH)
Gal Glivar (APT)
Georffrey Bouchard (TEN)
Matteo Trentin (TUD)

They are at 40″ from the leaders with the peloton a further 15″ behind them.

2026-06-08T09:40:16.499Z

The counter attacks continue but as they fail the pace stalls each time and this has allowed the leading six riders to extend their gap to 35″ on the bunch.

2026-06-08T09:38:50.360Z

More attacks come from the peloton as the fight to form the break is, once again, fierce.

2026-06-08T09:38:29.184Z

The most dangerous riders in GC are Charmig, Thomas and Diaz all on 15’04” behind Baudin.

Anton Charmig (UXM)
Alex Diaz (CJR)
Benjamin Thomas (COF)
Baptiste Veistroffer (LOI)
Nadav Raisburg (NSN)
Henri-François Renard-Haquin (TPP)

The six riders go clear and get a small gap of 15″ on the peloton.

2026-06-08T09:33:59.042Z

The first attacks come with six riders going clear from the flag drop but they are quickly brough back. Four riders launch over the top.

Racing begins on the second stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes with 3685 metres of elevation gain ahead of the riders.

2026-06-08T09:30:22.885Z

Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) made the time cut yesterday by just NINE seconds.

2026-06-08T09:30:01.109Z

There were four DNFs yesterday:

Matthew Riccitello (Decathlon-CMA CGM)
Brady Gilmore (NSN)
Rotem Tene (NSN)
Juan Martinez (Picnic-PostNL)

And one rider over the time limit:

Florian Kajamini (XDS-Astana)

2026-06-08T09:27:52.774Z

Baudin may own all the jerseys, but he can only wear one. He is in yellow. In the white best young riders jersey it is Leo Bisiaux (Decathlon-CMA CGM), in the blue and white polka dot KOM jersey it is Sergio Samitier (Cofidis), and in the green points jersey it is second place Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Premier Tech) who was very impressive in yesterday’s finale.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-06-08T09:13:06.918Z

Godon thinks that he has a good chance in today’s stage and describes the day as a Milan-San Remo in Grenoble. Will the French champion make it two French wins in a row? His form this year would suggest it is definitely possible with seven victories across the season so far as well as multiple top placings.

The riders have rolled out and are now in the neutral zone. It is an extremely long 11.5km today! Making the stage 245.8km when you add the neutral.

2026-06-08T09:09:46.879Z

The lack of bonus seconds meant that Onley could give his all in the final kilometres to make sure they kept the gap without worrying that rivals in the group would take the bonuses on the line. They are all at 32″ from Baudin, aside from Bruno Armirail (Visma-Lease a Bike) who is at 34″.

The other GC riders are all at 44″ with the biggest losers on the day being Jørgen Nordhagen (Visma-Lease a Bike) losing 1’04”, Carlos Rodríguez (Netcompany-Ineos) losing 1’46” and winner in 2020 Dani Martínez (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) who lost 2’53”. Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies) also lost time on his birthday after a very poorly timed puncture meant he lost 12’44”.

2026-06-08T09:05:15.675Z

The GC riders were a bit split up in the end as well with the likes of Ben Tulett (Visma-Lease a Bike), Kevin Vauquelin (Netcompany-Ineos) and Oscar Onley (Netcompany-Ineos) being part of a 10 man group that gained 12″ on all the other major GC rivals.

2026-06-08T09:02:31.916Z

After the stage, Baudin was over the moon. “I cannot describe the feeling right now. I don’t think I realise it yet; it’s just amazing to win here and with my family here. One hour from home, it’s just crazy,” said Baudin.

“I hope I can carry this confidence and shape into the Tour de France in July. Of course, I’ll want to defend the jersey as long as possible. It’s not going to be easy tomorrow with this super long stage, but a yellow jersey you have to defend it, so we’re going to do everything.”

2026-06-08T09:01:33.109Z

Before we launch further into the stage today, shall we have a look back at the fantastic racing of stage one? And what a stage it was for Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) who took the stage and all four jerseys in the process. A dream moment for the rider who’s hometown was just about an hour from yesterday’s finish.

2026-06-08T08:58:33.967Z

The neutralised start is in about 10 minutes for the riders. They have completed sign on and team presentations with the usual interviews and will be beginning to go to the start in Saint-Martin-Le-Vinoux.