Jonathan Milan and team fight hard to take Dauphiné’s second stage

On Monday’s second stage of the 77th Critérium du Dauphiné, a lone escapee lit out for glory soon after the start in Prémilhat and survived 110 km, Romain Bardet gave his hometown fans a thrill with a late attack, and Jonathan Milan, once dumped from the peloton, came back to take the win. Milan is tied on time with Tadej Pogačar at the top of the GC, but the Italian assumes the yellow jersey.

The Course

There was a quartet of Cat. 3 and 4’s in the first half of 204.6 km from Prémilhat to Issoire. The hardest climb of the day was Cat. 2 Côte du Château de Buron before the Issoire circuit.

Paul Ourselin, who climbed into the KOM jersey–blue with white dots–after Sunday’s stage, sallied forth on a solo breakaway. There’s something wondrous in the form of a solo breakaway rider in a road race. They embody the hopes and dreams of daring and dauntless flight. In the 1947 Tour de France Albert Bourlon stayed away for 253 kilometres to win a stage in Luchon. Jacky Durand was the master in the 90s, once winning the Tour de France’s Combativity Award and finishing as the Lanterne Rouge in 1999.

Ourselin earned six mountains points on two Cat. 3’s and two Cat. 4’s in the opening third of the day. He was 4:30 ahead of the peloton with 131 km remaining.

Paul Ourselin en tête, à la conquête des points du classement de la montagne ⛰️ #Dauphiné 📷 Getty Images

— Team Cofidis (@teamcofidis.bsky.social) 2025-06-09T11:13:10.296Z

The question was whether or not the intrepid Cofidis Frenchman could crest Cat. 2 Côte du Château de Buron ahead of the field, which started to race with intent. Three reinforcements bridged over with 85 km to go. A white car almost pulled onto the road in front of the breakaway.

Ourselin in fact didn’t score maximum KOM points on the Cat. 2, but he did add two points to his total before getting swallowed up by the peloton, whose pace was too much for sprinter Milan. Almost the entire Lidl-Trek team was required to bring Milan back.

When the bell rang, all the breakaways were corralled and Milan had returned. In the circuit stood the Côte de Nonette climb. There, close to his hometown of Brioude, Romain Bardet attacked in the final race of his career, forcing a 20-second lead, but he was returned to the fold with 8.1 km to race.

UAE-Emirates and Visma-Lease a Bike mobbed the front. Lidl-Trek showed its interest in delivering Milan first over the line. Van der Poel grabbed Milan’s wheel. Milan went hard on the right hand barrier, van der Poel tried to come around on the left, but it was the Italian’s day. Van der Poel was third again.

On Tuesday, there’s a 1.2-km, 9.5-km climb called Côte du Château Jaune cresting 18 km from the finish in Charantonnay.

2025 Critérium du Dauphiné Stage 2
1) Jonathan Milan (Italy/Lidl-Trek) 4:54:49
2) Fred Wright (Great Britain/Bahrain-Victorious) s.t.
3) Mathieu van der Poel (The Netherlands/Alpecin-Deceuninck) s.t.
30) Guillaume Boivin (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech)

2025 Critérium du Dauphiné GC
1) Jonathan Milan (Italy/Lidl-Trek) 9:34:51
2) Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia/UAE-Emirates) s.t.
3) Mathieu van der Poel (The Netherlands/Alpecin-Deceuninck) +0:02