A first Maillot Jaune for the Italian sprinter after a textbook lead-out from his teammates and a powerful final sprint.
Jonathan Milan and his Lidl-Trek teammates might have been off target on Stage 1 as the General Classification riders played their own game at the front of the race, but they made sure they didn’t miss on Stage 2.
There was perhaps a moment of doubt for those watching as Milan was distanced from the bunch with 56km remaining on the second-category Côte du Château de Buron climb but the Team had full faith in their leader and dropped back to help close the gap to the rest of the field.
ISSOIRE, FRANCE - JUNE 09: Stage winner Jonathan Milan of Italy and Team Lidl - Trek celebrate the victory with his teammate Simone Consonni of Italy after the 77th Criterium du Dauphine 2025, Stage 2 a 204.6km stage from Premilhat to Issoire / #UCIWT / on June 09, 2025 in Issoire, France. (Photo by Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
Wearing the yellow jersey means a lot. Not just for me but the whole team. It's a sign of team success. It means we are working good together.
Pure power ⚡️
In Jonny’s words…
Our goal was to come here and keep building up my condition and try to do some nice results. Yesterday, I was really suffering a lot as it was my first race in a long time. Today, I also suffered a lot and I was dropped at one point and I was really on the limit. I was really close to being completely out of today's race on the category two climb, but my teammates waited, they brought me back, they supported me and guided me really all day today and got me in the perfect spot for the final sprint. I am really thankful to them.
When you’re dropped and you’re alone then it’s super tough to come back but when you have a team that is supporting you and believing in you then it’s much easier and that’s what happened today. This support and belief is always super important and it gives you extra motivation and allows you to go more deep in the efforts.
We knew we had to take this last corner on the front and it was just a perfect leadout. Simone did a huge job when I was dropped, he did a big effort to bring me back and position me and get me in a good spot and then we decided to go with Jasper and Eddie and Toms in front.
We cannot call any of the days here sprint days, they will all be really tough, but I am enjoying this victory right now. We are doing a really good job for our July preparation and this means a lot in terms of where we want to be next month.
