Pascal Ackermann celebrates at Criterium du Dauphine
Jun 05 2018 10:24 pm CET
Bora-hansgrohe
Pascal Ackermann (Bora-hansgrohe) has won the second stage of the Criterium du Dauphine. The rider was the fastest at the final sprint and crossed the finish line ahead of Edvald Boasson Hagen and Daryl Impey.
The second stage of the French race was 181 kilometres long over a hilly route that was expected to be the last chance for the sprinters. The breakaway of the day was formed at only 2.5 kilometres from the start when Nikita Stalnov (Astana), Antoine Duchesne (Groupama-FDJ), Pierre-Luc Perichon (Fortuneo-Samsic) and Frederik Backaert (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) took a lead on the peloton.
While the quartet took an advantage of more than six minutes over the pack, teams like Sky, Bora-hansgrohe, Bahrain-Merida and Vital Concept took control of the pace of the peloton to try to catch the men in front. During the ascent to the Col de Crie, Backaert was dropped from the escape group and the other three men continued their adventure.
Riders like Antwan Tolhoek (LottoNL-Jumbo), Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) and Bryan Coquard (Vital Concept) tried to bridge to the front but were eventually caught back by the pack. With 10 kilometres to go, Stalnov attacked from the front group and went away on his own while the other two were swallowed by the peloton.
Mitchelton-Scott, Lotto-Soudal and Cofidis worked together at the front of the pack at the last kilometres in order to increase the pace and catch the Astana escapee. With two kilometres to go, the Yellow Jersey wearer Michal Kwiatkowski suffered a hard crash but did eventually get back on his bike.
Stalnov was caught at the last kilometre and a chaotic final sprint took place in which Bora-hansgrohe's Pascal Ackermann showed to be the strongest man. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension-Data) and Impey were second and third on the day.
Although Kwiatkowski did not lose any time thanks to the three-kilometers rule, he did lose the Yellow Jersey to Impey whose third place earned him enough bonification seconds to move to the top of the overall standings.
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