Arnaud Demare Dominates Dauphine Stage 2 Sprint
FDJ rider puts several bike lengths between himself and closest rivals Kristoff, Bouhanni and Colbrelli
Stage 2 saw an established breakawy of four riders; Koen Bouwman (LottoNL-Jumbo), Nathan Brown (Cannondale-Drapac) and Romain Combaud (Delko Marseille Provence KTM) and they have just over 3 minutes lead, who built up a maximum lead of around 3 mins 30 secs.
Behind, Thomas De Gendt's team mates from Lotto Soudal kept the break in check. Froome and Team Sky were not far behind trying to stay out of any trouble.
The breakaway's lead started to fade as Bahrain-Merida helped in the chase.
With 40 kilometres to go, Bouwman, Lutsenko, Combaud and Brown in the breakaway has just over a minute and look likley to be caught before the finish.
U23 world champion Alexey Lutsenko from Astana has attacked his breakaway companiomns and gained a 40 second lead with 30 kms to go.
But the peloton were having none of it and reeled Lutsenko back in and geared up for a bunch sprint.
In the finale, Kristoff's team mates set up a great lead out and FDJ's lead out train latched onto the back of them.
Krisstof kicked first and Demare wasn't far behind, but in an impressive display of explosive power came past everyone, several bikes length ahead upon crossing the line.
A true display of sprinting prowess that must have shocked his sprintign rivals with his late turn of speed and accelaration.
The runners up Kristoff, Bouhanni and Colbrelli are disappointed at the final outcome, but live to fight for another day and there are a few more sprint stages to be won.
Tomorrow's stage 3 from Le Chambon-sur-Lignon to Tullins is 184 kmand contains four low level categorized climbs so could be another opportunity for the fast men.
2017 Criterium Du Dauphine Stage 2 Top 10
1 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ 4:13:53
2 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin
3 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
4 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
5 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Sunweb
6 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data
7 Ben Swift (GBr) UAE Team Emirates
8 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
9 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac
10 Bryan Coquard (Fra) Direct Energie
2017 Criterium Du Dauphine GC after Stage 2
1 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal 8:30:47
2 Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:48
3 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:03
4 Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:07
5 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
6 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:09
7 Ben Swift (GBr) UAE Team Emirates
8 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac
9 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal
10 Julien Simon (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits