Groupama-FDJ and Romain Grégoire had decided to take their responsibility this Monday on stage 2 of the Critérium du Dauphiné. With an ascending last part of the race, the Frenchman hoped to be in the mix for the win. Clément Russo and Quentin Pacher therefore did a great work to get close to the day’s breakaway. The last survivor of the latter, Bruno Armirail, was caught 200 metres from the line, but Romain Grégoire launched from too far back to snatch a top position. He eventually placed ninth while David Gaudu also finished in the first peloton of fifty riders.
After an opening day made for the sprinters, the punchers were expected this Monday on the Critérium du Dauphiné towards the Col de la Loge, with a mostly ascending final of about thirty kilometres. The stage tallied one hundred and forty-two kilometres in total, and it was at the very first one that Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-AG2R), Mathis Le Berre (Arkea-B&B), Jonas Gregaard (Lotto-Dstny), Xandro Meurisse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Filippo Conca (Q36.5) took the lead. The peloton eased off immediately, allowing the five riders to get a five-minute lead. “The stage suited us on paper, with David but especially with Romain,” said Benoît Vaugrenard. “We made a first mistake by letting five riders go. We absolutely wanted to have a rider in front so as not to have to pull behind, because we knew that few teams would be willing to chase. Given the five leading riders, and their qualities, we started chasing quite early. The final was tailwind, with a descending portion before the climbs, and it was high time to close the gap.” Clément Russo therefore placed himself at the head of the bunch for a long time and took turns with some teammates from the Bora-hansgrohe and Israel-Premier Tech teams.
“I really felt like I could win”, Romain Grégoire
Thanks to this cooperation, the gap was reduced to 2’30 at the bottom of the Saint-Georges-en-Couzan climb (7.4 km at 5.6%), first step of the ascending final. “With a gap of five minutes on such riders, it went obviously very fast all day,” added Romain Grégoire. “I felt really good on the climb 25 kilometres from the finish. I really felt like I could win, and I really wanted to try. We had to give it a go, it was the stage that suited me best of the week. If we wanted to have a chance of winning, we had no other choice than to try to get rid of the best sprinters and catch the breakaway.” Quentin Pacher therefore very quickly came into play. “We had planned to make it hard, and Quentin did that very well,” Benoît said. “He did a very good job, and for a long time too! It made it possible to drop a lot of guys and put the yellow jersey in difficulty.” After a tremendous ride from the French puncher, the peloton not only took back a minute on the breakaway but was also half reduced. Following this first climbing part, other teams took control but struggled to narrow the gap with the fugitives. In the lead, Bruno Armirail broke away alone ten kilometres from the finish and managed to keep thirty seconds on the pack for a long time.
“We’ll try again”, Benoît Vaugrenard
Following a high pace in the last two kilometres slightly uphill, the peloton eventually managed to catch Armirail 200 metres from the line. Magnus Cort passed him first and claimed a clear win. Romain Grégoire couldn’t come better than 9th. “I did not make the necessary efforts to be positioned in front in the last four kilometres, and in the end, I am not in the mix for victory,” he said. “It was really a sprint for strong men, and after starting fifty metres behind, I didn’t have the legs to move back up. I think I wouldn’t have had the legs to beat Magnus Cort if we had been side by side, so it was just impossible by starting from so far back. It’s frustrating and a shame not to reward the team, because they showed real motivation. They did the job that was needed, the approach was really good, and I messed up in the end. It su***”. “He had good legs, but he wasn’t confident enough,” concluded Benoît. “He was flat-out, but everyone was. Tomorrow, the stage may suit us again, so we’ll try again.” On the overall, Romain Grégoire and David Gaudu are both ten seconds behind the yellow jersey Magnus Cort on Monday evening.
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