PREVIEW | Criterium du Dauphiné 2025 stage 2 - WIll Jonathan Milan have luck this time around?

From the 8th to the 15th of June the riders take on the Criterium du Dauphiné. Not only is this race usually the biggest preview ahead of the Tour de France, but it will also have the presence of Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel. We preview stage 2.

Stage 2 of the race isn't too different, although the start is much more difficult. Breakaways are more possible to succeed, but the end is flatter than the opening day which increases the possibility of there being a bunch sprint deciding the outcome of the day.

The first half of the day truly is explosive and has the possibility of creating a strong group up front who could go on to fight for a yellow jersey. A lot of the 2800 meters of climbing are located in this half of the day, although the second half does still feature some difficulties. It's an interesting day of racing, specially after stage 1 already opened up the fight for the overall classification.

The most notable 3.2 kilometers at 7% ending with 55 kilometers to go. Still decently far from the finish, if the sprinters survive this, they will mostly have smooth sailing into Issoire. The finale will be flat, but techical... From 5 to 3 kilometers to go there will be a downhill section with a few corners, which will stretch the peloton a lot and also see a massive battle for positioning.

Then a second one will happen into the final corner which is present only around 400 meters from the finish.

*** Jonathan Milan
** Pascal Ackermann, Soren Waerenskjold, Jake Stewart
* Magnus Cort Nielsen, Paul Penhoët, Matteo Trentin, Hugo Page, Laurence Pithie, Samuel Watson, Clément Venturini, Fred Wright,

Pick: Jonathan Milan

How: Regular bunch sprint