Anthon Charmig had managed to cross the finish line with his arms raised to the sky only once before in his career. It was the Tour of Oman in 2022 and since then the Danish rider from Team Uno X had not been able to make his mark again. A drought lasting over 4 years that ended today in the second stage of the Tour Auvergne Rhone Alpes where he was the protagonist of a beautiful solo attack.

"It's incredible and I'm extremely happy, in my career I've never had many opportunities to win and today I tried to seize my chance. I came to France directly from altitude training where I spent the last week with the team, I was feeling good and was truly motivated," said an emotionally moved Charmig, who was greeted with embraces from his masseurs after crossing the finish line. It's a special season for Team Uno X, which now has six victories this season, three of them in World Tour races.

The 234 kilometers of today's stage, Anthon Charmig raced almost entirely on the attack, a long and tiring day, but above all full of pitfalls. The twenty-eight-year-old Dane, who is also an excellent time trialist, tried to manage himself throughout the day until he launched his decisive attack on the final climb of the day. "I believe the key to this stage was being able to manage myself, it was a long day and I tried to save energy to play everything in the finale. The penultimate climb on the schedule was really too difficult for my characteristics, some guys attacked, but I preferred to wait and climb at my own pace. I think it was the right decision because I found myself working with others and nobody made a real effort to come back. Instead, I made my move on the last categorized climb which suited my characteristics very well and at that point I tried to give everything I had."