John Degenkolb wins 2nd stage, Alexandre Vinokourov takes overall lead in 2011 Criterium du Dauphine
HTC-Highroad team’s John Degenkolb again showed his brilliant performance in the second stage of 2011 Criterium du Dauphine on Tuesday, June 7.
The race started in Voiron and ended in Lyon. The 22-year-old John took a total of 4 hours, 2 minutes and 39 seconds to cover the distance 179 kilometres.
Samuel Dumoulin was very excited to win in his home city, but he failed and grabbed the runner-up’s spot. Sebastien Hinault of AG2R-La Mondiale finished third ahead of Paul Martens.
A group of 14 cyclists crossed the finish-line with the same timing of John. Kristijan Koren of Liquigas-Cannondale tried his best to catch the 14 riders, but he was 6 seconds adrift.
After winning the stage, John said, “I’m young rider and this is my first year as a pro but it’s been a super start to my career. I’ve had four victories before this one. It’s a super start for me as a professional. I’m super happy.”
Recently, German professional cyclist, John won five races of this season including, second stage of Volta ao Algarve and first stage of Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen.
Jermey Roy of the FDJ team was the first rider who attacked the peloton, but he was pulled back. Then the group of three riders including, Brice Feillu (Leopard-Trek), Jurgen Van de Walle (Omega Pharma-Lotto), and Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank) got away.
After 50 kilometres to go, all of them gained their advantage of five minutes, but they were caught by the peloton in the final circuit.
In the final 1.5 kilometres, French champion, Thomas Voeckler, attacked, but Samuel Dumoulin took the lead. In the last corner, Dengenkolb maintained his speed and crossed the finish-line ahead of other cyclists.
Dengenkolb said, “It was a good stage for me. We saw it the (finish) before the race and said it was for me today. I’m so happy. It’s my first World Tour win,”
Alexandre Vinokourov of the Pro Astana team took an overall general classification leader’s jersey with the timing of 7 hours, 45 minutes and 48 seconds. First stage winner Jurgen Van Den Broeck was runner-up with 11 seconds behind Alexandre.
Bradley Wiggins of Sky Procycling finished third ahead of Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team).
The third stage will start in Grenoble and all the riders will cover a distance of 42.5 kilometres.
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