After an explosive opening day, the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (the stage race formerly known as the Critérium du Dauphiné) serves up another tricky little test on stage 2.
At 237.3 km, the route from Saint-Martin-le-Vinoux to Saint-Vidal is a pretty darn long day in the saddle. There’s enough climbing packed into the finale to keep the race wide open, too. The biggest ascents come earlier in the day, but the outcome is more likely to be decided on the Côte des Baraques and Côte de Saint-Vidal, two punchy climbs inside the final 30 km.
Neither climb is long enough to guarantee major gaps, but both are steep enough to encourage attacks. There’s a mostly downhill run to the finish after the final lump, too. So that means any rider (or riders) who gets over the top with a little bit of a gap advantage could maybe take the dub. It really all depends on what remains of the pack and the mood of the teams.
That uncertainty makes predicting a winner difficult. (I mean, things rarely go according to plan these days in modern cycling, but some days are even harder to figure out.) Puncheurs such as Benoît Cosnefroy and Ben Healy will probably dig the parcours. Riders like Kévin Vauquelin and Paul Seixas also have the explosive power to take advantage if the GC battle ignites. But that’s a big if.
Anyone going for the overall will need to pay attention. Riders such as Isaac Del Toro, Juan Ayuso and Mattias Skjelmose will be marking each other closely throughout the day.
French rider Alex Baudin had a terrific solo win on Sunday and carries the overall lead into stage 2. He could hold onto it if the bunch remains somewhat intact.
There are two Canadians in the race, Alpecin-Premier Tech’s Hugo Houle and Baudin’s EF Education-EasyPost teammate Michael Leonard. If Baudin keeps the lead, TT specialist Leonard could be a big help in Tuesday’s team time trial. The same goes for Houle with his Dutch squad. Coverage begins on Flobikes.com at 8:55 a.m. EDT. Canadian Cycling Magazine will have a report after, too!