Dauphiné Libéré: Moreau surprises overall favourites

Frenchman Christophe Moreau (AG2R) launched an attack on Tuesday's stage two of the Dauphiné Libéré to take victory and the overall race lead. Astana's Antonio Redondo came in second.

The Caisse d'Epargne team and Levi Leipheimers Discovery Channel had to work hard in order to minimize Moreau's lead.

"I feel really liberated after finally winning again", said Moreau. "I know that at my age I'm better at climbing, but I also lose my power during the time trials. It will be difficult to hold on to the yellow jersey, but we'll judge that on Thursday".

The 36-year-old AG2R rider escaped the peloton's clutches around 40km from the finish line and drove a punishing pace at the front to beat breakaway compantion Jose Antonio Redondo.

Alejandro Valverde dominated a bunch sprint around 30secs later, the Spaniard finishing just ahead of specialist sprinter Thor Hushovd of Credit Agricole.

Moreau's stage win was reward having done the bulk of the work as the trio tried to hold off the chasing peloton.

Minutes before coming over the finish line Kevin Seeldrayers, the third breakaway rider, saw his victory bid end on the descent into Saint Etienne due to a mechanical problem, his chain appearing to snap.

Team CSC's Christian Vande Velde was hit by another stroke of bad luck, when he crashed during the second stage of Dauphiné Libéré, so the American rider did not make it home with the peloton after the 157 kilometers from Saint-Paul-en-Jarez to Saint-Etienne.

"Christian was involved in a bad crash on the first descent and he was pretty beat up. He hurt his head and his back quite badly. But the initial examination shows that he's okay though. Of course he was a bit shook up afterwards, but we'll give him another check-up at the hospital this evening. My initial estimation is that he will be able to continue, but let's wait and see," said CSC team doctor Piet Daneels after the stage.

Vande Velde had to abandon Vuelta Ciclista a Catalunya only a couple of weeks ago following a crash.

"Marcus Ljungqvist also had to let himself fall behind on the last climb, but that was to be expected. The six remaining riders in our line-up were all in the peloton, so not counting Christian's crash things went according to plan today," said CSC Sports Director Alain Gallopin.

On Wednesday's the favourites will have to stamp their mark. The 40-km individual time trial around Anneyron is considered a dress rehearsal for the tour de France. Riders will be able to test their form before the next day’s legendary Mont Ventoux. (nrt)

Wednesday's third stage is a 40.7km time trial around Anneyron.

Results

Stage 2

1 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance                 3:50:38 (40,844 km/h)
2 José Antonio Redondo (Spa) Astana                             
3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne                  0.33
4 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole                            
5 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner                          
6 Anthony Geslin (Fra) Bouygues Telecom                         
7 Leonardo Duque (Col) Cofidis                                  
8 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Française Des Jeux                     
9 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Crédit Agricole                     
10 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Milram

General Classification after stage 2

1 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance                 9:30:42 (39,972 km/h)
2 José Antonio Redondo (Spa) Astana                          0.07
3 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Cofidis                              0.24
4 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel                    0.25
5 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Astana                             0.26
6 George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel                       
7 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne                  0.27
8 David Zabriskie (USA) Team CSC                                
9 Egoi Martínez (Spa) Discovery Channel                      0.29
10 Sébastien Joly (Fra) Française Des Jeux                   0.30

Milram for Delta Profronde