Milan grabs Dauphine stage victory and overall lead
The 1.93m (6-foot-4) 87kg Milan had to battle to keep up on a hilly 204.6km run through central France from Premilhat. When the pack hit the home straight, he rocketed away from his rivals to collect a 10-second victory bonus and the yellow jersey.
"That was really tough," said Milan. "I was dropped at one point and I was really on the limit, but I have to say thanks to my teammates because they brought me back and guided me until the last metres."
Briton Fred Wright was second and Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel third.
Pogacar and his main rivals for overall victory, both in the Criterium and the Tour de France, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel, rolled home safely in the main pack just behind Mlan.
Pogacar, who collected a 10-second bonus on Sunday, has the same overall time as Mian, but braked hard in the final metres to surrender places and hand the Italian the tie-break edge and the daily media responsibilities that go with the yellow jersey.
The eight-day race, with four hilly stages, a time trial and three final days in the Alps, has attracted an A-list roster of 154 riders from 22 teams.
It offers Tour de France contenders a chance to hone their form and gain a psychological edge before the main event starts on July 5.
Pogacar, who won his third Tour de France last year ending Vingegaard's two-year reign, had struck the first blow the previous day, edging the Dane to take the opening stage and the overall lead.
On Monday, support riders for Pogacar's Team UAE and Vingegaard's Visma spent much of the stage jostling, sometimes angrily, for position at the front of the pack.
The stage was briefly animated when local-boy Romain Bardet, riding the final race of his 14-year professional career, launched an attack on the last small climb just before a corner where his fan club was waiting with a huge banner.
The 34-year-old was caught with 10 kilometres to go as Milan's Lidl-Trek team took control.
The Frenchman will have another chance on Tuesday when stage three starts from his home town Brioude for a hilly 207.2km run to Charantonnay.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
11 hours ago
- France 24
Yildiz stars as Juventus beat Wydad at Club World Cup
The Turkish international forward was unlucky not to be credited with Juve's early opener which went down as an own goal by Abdelmounaim Boutouil. However, there was no doubt that Yildiz was the scorer of the second with a tremendous strike from outside the box. Thembinkosi Lorch pulled one back for Wydad before the break, but Yildiz got his second of the afternoon on 69 minutes before a late Dusan Vlahovic penalty sealed the victory for the Italian side. Having already defeated Emirati side Al Ain 5-0 in their opening match, Juve have scored nine goals and have the maximum six points after two outings in Group G. Their qualification for the knockout phase will be assured if group rivals Manchester City avoid defeat against Al Ain later. That puts Igor Tudor's Juve in an excellent position with a final group game to come on Thursday against City in Orlando. "I'm happy. It was not easy. It was hot, but it was a good win. At the end our quality came out," Tudor told broadcaster DAZN, before hailing the performance of Yildiz. "He has great potential. He has a lot of skills but more important than skills is his brain, that is the key. A wonderful player, so there is a big future in front of him." Fast start Meanwhile Moroccan giants Wydad are eliminated with this defeat following a 2-0 loss at the hands of City in their first outing. Yildiz, the 20-year-old German-born winger, was among the scorers against Al Ain and he was the star of the show here in front of 31,975 fans at Lincoln Financial Field. Juve, who finished fourth in Serie A in the campaign just finished, went with an unchanged starting line-up meaning the likes of Vlahovic and Manuel Locatelli began the game on the bench. Prolific against Al Ain, they wasted no time in putting the team that finished third in the Moroccan league to the sword. The opening goal came on six minutes as Khephren Thuram teed up Yildiz and his shot beat goalkeeper El Mehdi Benabid with the aid of a slight deflection off Boutouil. It was 2-0 on 16 minutes via a superb effort, as Andrea Cambiaso went on a piercing run in from the left before laying the ball off for Yildiz to smash in a shot on the half-volley into the top corner. Wydad quickly pulled one back as veteran Nordin Amrabat's fine pass in behind the defence released South African winger Lorch to control and clip a shot past the goalkeeper. Yet Juventus were well on top and Cambiaso hit the post just prior to the hour mark before Randal Kolo Muani somehow failed to turn in Lloyd Kelly's ball across the face of goal. Their third goal did arrive just after the midway point in the second half when France forward Kolo Muani collected possession on the left and then slipped in Yildiz who finished into the corner. It was his third goal at the tournament so far, and his 12th in all competitions since the season began.
France 24
13 hours ago
- France 24
Almeida wins time-trial to take Tour of Switzerland
"I think I started too fast," the Portuguese rider said after the closing 10.1km uphill time-trial. "I overpaced in the beginning. In the end, I hoped to have enough gas to push in the last kilometre, but in the end it was not necessary." Almeida beat Austrian Felix Gall by 25 seconds and Frenchman Vauquelin, who was fourth on the day, by 1min 40sec. "It's a lesson: you should never give up," said Almeida, who lost the race by 22 seconds last year. "Sometimes things go wrong and nothing is perfect, but you need to keep trying. We kept trying and we did it." It was second straight stage victory for Almeida, who had cut Vauquelin's lead to 33 seconds on Saturday. Sunday's ultimately dominant ride meant the Portuguese rider beat Vauquelin by 1:07 in the overall standings. "I'm super happy. I did a good climb, and I was feeling really good," Almeida said. Almeida is a team-mate of reigning Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar, who recently won another warm-up race the Criterium du Dauphine. Almeida said he understood what his role would be. "I'll have time to enjoy this win and I'll be ready for the Tour de France," Almeida said. "I'll support Tadej Pogacar there and hope we can get more great wins." Breakout star Scotsman Oscar Onley was third on the day 1:12 behind Almeida and finished third overall 51sec behind Vauquelin. Vauquelin was striving to become he first French rider to win any stage race on the elite road racing World Tour circuit since Christophe Moreau claimed the Criterium du Dauphine in 2007.
France 24
17 hours ago
- France 24
Marc Marquez completes perfect Mugello weekend with Italian MotoGP triumph
The Ducati rider came through a brilliant early battle with his brother Alex, in second, and teammate Francesco Bagnaia to extend his championship lead over his sibling to 40 points after also winning Saturday's sprint race. The 32-year-old started on pole but didn't have it all his own way, not securing first place until lap nine as he, Alex Marquez and Bagnaia exchanged the lead with some thrilling riding. But he claimed his fifth win from nine Grands Prix in what has been a dream first campaign with Ducati's factory team, and his first victory at Mugello since 2014. Marc Marquez has now won the sprint and main race at the Thailand, Argentina, Qatar, Aragon and Italian MotoGPs so far in 2025. He is already red-hot favourite to draw level with great rival Valentino Rossi on seven world crowns, and move one behind all-time record winner Giacomo Agostini. That would be a bitter pill to swallow for retired Rossi who has openly called Marquez a "dirty" rider who actively worked to stop him from winning what would have been his eighth world title a decade ago. Italian motorcyling fans still blame Marquez for crashing into Rossi in that year's penultimate Malaysian MotoGP, even though their hero was the one punished by having to start the final race of 2015 at the back of the grid, virtually guaranteeing Lorenzo the title. Marc Marquez was loudly booed by a significant portion of the Mugello crowd after Saturday's sprint race to the point that team manager Davide Tardozzi stormed over to the stands to tell fans to "shut up". But on Sunday the local supporters cheered him after he pulled even further away from local hero Bagnaia, a two-time world champion who is now 110 points off the pace in the standings after finishing fourth. Bagnaia had won the previous three races at his home track of Mugello but ended up losing a podium place to Fabio Di Giannantonio, who rides for Ducati satellite team VR46 Racing, with two laps remaining. It was a frustrating day on home soil for Bagnaia, and the latest disappointing result in a season in which he has been eclipsed by Marc Marquez.
