Critérium du Dauphiné (st. 2)

Spaniard now in 5th overall at Dauphiné with one stage left before the ITT, following another calm day to Oyonnax; Viviani (CAN) victorious

With neither bonus seconds nor excessive difficulties along the way after Sunday’s stage, the overall classification of the 2013 Critérium du Dauphiné before the 32-kilometer ITT on Wednesday will be played into the account of positions for more than 50 riders in the elite group behind race leader Veilleux (EUC). The advantage of having all references before such an important test forces the GC riders to pay attention in all finishes, and Alejandro Valverde proved today to be willing to take the task as he finished on top again today.

The Movistar Team leader came in 13th at the big field’s sprint -more than 70 riders- led by Elia Viviani (CAN), with José Herrada trying to break things up in the slopes of the last of six climbs in the programme, the Col du Sentier (Cat-2). The Spaniard was reached just before the summit and left place to his team-mates Valverde and Madrazo, now 5th and 9th overall before another tricky finish on Tuesday -stage three, 169km between Ambérieu and Tarare-, with the Côte des Sauvages (Cat-3) just 10k from the end.