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| Elia Viviani won Monday's stage 2 |
Several of the sprinters did well to stay with the front group in stage 2 of the Critérium du Dauphiné today, over six categorized climbs, to force a bunch sprint finish. Cannondale's Elia Viviani proved the fastest and took the stage ahead of Omega Pharma's Gianni Meersman and Radioshack's Tony Gallopin. That's two straight second places for Meersman, good enough to earn him the green points jeresey lead. Gallopin took the young rider's jersey from Tom Slagter, Thomas Damuseau of Argos Shimano took the monutains jersey lead, and Europcar's David Veilleux was well protected by his team and held onto the Yellow leader's jersey.
Tomorrow's stage 3 to Tarare is less hilly, so even more fast men should be there to contest a sprint finish. Meersman will be hungry for a win, but his nine point lead over Viviani in the points jersey competition means that with a decent finish--even without a win--he's got a good shot at keeping the jersey.
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| Stage 3 profile |
Today's third place finisher, Gallopin was my pick for stage 1, but I did not expect the sprinters to be there at the end of stage 2 today, so chapeau to them for showing me up.
My pick for stage 3: Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ)
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