Power to the attackers; Charmig rules Le Puy-en-Velay
June 8 th 2026 - 17:27
After Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) in Saint-Ismier, day 2 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes 2026 also favoured a solo attacker. This time, Anthon Charmig (Uno-X Mobility) proved to be the strongest rider from the breakaway after a long and demanding stage from Saint-Martin-le-Vinoux (234.3 km, 3,685 m of elevation). Part of a 10-man group, the Danish puncheur distanced Clément Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ United) and Raul Garcia Pierna (Movistar) just before the final summit of the day and covered the last 12 kilometres on his own to take his second professional victory. Around three minutes behind, Baudin finished with the reduced bunch to retain the yellow and blue leader’s jersey on the eve of the team time trial in Le Perreux.
After a demanding opening stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes 2026, day 2 of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes is long and packed with climbing: 3,685 metres of elevation to overcome before reaching Le Puy-en-Velay after 234.3 km of racing from Saint-Martin-le-Vinoux. That makes for the longest stage in the event since 2003.
A 10-man breakaway
The 149 riders who reached Saint-ismier on Sunday are also at the start of stage 2. Many of them are interested in making the breakaway, a situation that leads to a fierce battle from the start.
Anthon Charmig (Uno X-Mobility), Baptiste Veistroffer (Intermarché-Lotto), Alex Diaz (Caja Rural), Nadav Raisberg (NSN), Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) et Henri-François Renard-Haquin (Picnic PostNL) set off at kilometre 0.
Behind them, the likes of Matteo Trentin (Tudor) and Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla) participate in counter-attacks, without meeting success. But counter-attackers don’t surrender and initiate new moves on the climb to Col de Chatain (km 22.8).
Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies) accelerates and, together with Raul Garcia Pierna (Movistar), Vlad Van Mechelen (Bahrain Victorious), and then Clément Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ United), the French climber bridges the gap to the front group at km 33, just before the Col de la Croix de Toutes Aures (km 35.3).
At the summit, the peloton trail by 5’50’’, with EF Education-Easypost setting the pace. Braz Afonso is the main threat for the yellow and blue jersey as he trails by 5’35’’ in GC.
EF Education-EasyPost react
The gap hits a maximum of 6’20’’ at km 77, as the peloton rider through the Rhône Valley, towards Ardèche and the third climb of the day: the cat-2 Col Robert Marchand (10.9 km at 4.4%).
Benjamin Thomas goes first at the summit, just like he did in the first two climbs of the day. His tally is up to 12 KOM points, against Baudin’s 14.
The attackers then pass the intermediate sprint with a lead of 6’15’’ to the bunch. EF Education-EasyPost take the most of the transition to the final climbs of the day to accelerate and bring the gap down to 4’35’’.
Braz Afonso tries, Charmig wins
The cooperation within the breakaway is broken up 47 kilometres from the finish by Baptiste Veistroffer and Clément Braz Afonso, who try their luck as a duo ahead of the Côte des Baraques.
The Groupama-FDJ United climber goes solo to secure the polka dot jersey, but some chasers get back to him in successive waves: Garcia Pierna and Van Mechelen to begin with, and then Charmig, Jegat, Thomas and Renard-Haquin into the last 20 kilometres.
The peloton trail by 4 minutes at the bottom of the final climb, Côte de Saint-Vidal (cat. 3), to be summited with 11.8 km to go. Charmig proves to be the strongest on the ascent. At the summit, Braz Afonso and Garcia Pierna trail by 5 seconds. But the Dane pushes his advantage in the final run-in to Le Puy-en-Velay.
He eventually takes victory with a margin of 40 seconds to his chaser, with Renard-Haquin and Van Mechelen coming back from behind to round out the podium. The peloton finish with a gap of 3’13’’; Alex Baudin retains the yellow and blue leader’s jersey.
