Dan Martin's chances of a top general classification ride in France will be a lot clearer after tomorrow's stage 3.
The three Irish riders in the Critérium du Dauphiné finished in the main bunch on stage 2 into Parc des Oiseaux Villars-les-Dombes after 173km today, Monday.
The presence of a cat 2 climb near the start and a cat 1 later in the stage weren't enough to do any major damage to the general classification as the peloton regrouped after the major ascent, with 100km remaining in the stage at that point.
French sprinter Nacer Bouhanni of Cofidis, who has been beaten by Ireland's Sam Bennett several times this season, was fastest in the charge to the line to claim victory.
Nicolas Roche's and Philip Deignan's Team Sky retained the yellow jersey via stage 1 winner Peter Kennaugh.
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They, along with Dan Martin of Cannondale-Garmin, will go all out in tomorrow's 24.5km team time trial in a bid to make gains on the opposition.
Roche and Deignan will look to keep Kennaugh in yellow, while putting team leader Chris Froome in a good position to try to win the race outright.
Martin, who is the co-leader of his team, will be hoping his squad can pull a top performance out of the bag.
A good ride tomorrow would not only set him up for the remainder of the week, but would do his confidence no harm and hopefully get this crucial phase of the season off to a flying start after an indifferent campaign to date.
Tomorrow's test from Roanne to Montagny will be a flat and fast affair before the riders face a stage 4 with some small climbers on Wednesday ahead of a summit finish on Thursday that should suit Martin.
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Stage 2: Parc des Oiseaux Villars-les-Dombes (173km)
1 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 4:23:46
2 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
3 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre-Merida
4 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN - Qhubeka
5 Aleksei Tsatevich (Rus) Team Katusha
6 Jonas Vangenechten (Bel) IAM Cycling
7 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Orica GreenEdge
8 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team
9 Yannick Martinez (Fra) Team Europcar
10 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Team Giant-Alpecin
103 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky
107 Daniel Martin (Irl) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team
117 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky
General Classification
1 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Team Sky 7:30:27
2 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:00:02
3 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
4 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:06
5 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) MTN - Qhubeka 0:00:08
6 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:12
7 Yannick Martinez (Fra) Team Europcar
8 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Tinkoff-Saxo
9 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team
10 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Etixx - Quick-Step
54 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky
73 Daniel Martin (Irl) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team all same time
140 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky 0:04:28
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