Iván Romeo doubles up with stage win and yellow on Critérium du Dauphiné stage 3

Iván Romeo (Movistar) won stage 3 of the Critérium du Dauphiné in Charantonnay with a late solo attack from the day's break, coming home ahead of Harold Tejada (XDS Astana) and Louis Barré (Intermarché-Wanty). 

The gap at the finish line was enough for the 21-year-old Spanish rider to move into the yellow jersey, after Jonathan Milan was dropped from the peloton that finished over a minute behind the stage winner. 

The current under-23 world time trial champion used his ability to perfection, attacking from a strong breakaway group that featured Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) with 5.8km remaining and he never looked back as the group behind hesitated.

It marks the second professional victory of Romeo's career after he won a stage at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana with another solo attack. He will lead the race into Wednesday's individual time trial, where he stands a strong chance of keeping the jersey. 

Romeo has a lead of 17 seconds over Louis Barré (Intermarché-Wanty) and 18 seconds on Harold Tejada (XDS-Astana). Dangerman Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) is fourth at 24 seconds, while Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) is ninth at 1:06, and the best placed of the overall favourites.

"I think it was the hardest day of my life, honestly, on a bike," Romeo said after his triumph. "Like I was not feeling great, I told the car that I was going to gamble a bit with the attacks." Romeo found himself on the back foot on the  Côte de Château Jaune climb, but remained calm and knew he could have an advantage on the flat run-in to Charantonnay.

"I thought they were going to go full gas on the last climb, but they looked at each other a bit, so I attacked there, not because I wanted to go but because I thought it was my best way to get over the climb with them," he said. After making it over the climb with the leaders, Romeo identified his moment to strike. "I know these last 10 kilometres - flat - are my terrain. So yeah, I just played my cards and it worked out."

Looking ahead, Romeo hopes to defend his yellow jersey in the upcoming time trial while also supporting team leader Enric Mas. 

"I like the time-trials, as you know, so I'm going to go full for sure. I hope yellow will give me wings because I will need them," Romeo said. "We are here with Enric [Mas]. We're going to do everything for him to maybe put him on the podium. I think this is a good boost for the team, for the confidence."

The race started aggressively with multiple attacks from the peloton, including moves from Maxim Van Gils (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), and the home rider born in the start town of Brioude, Romain Bardet (Picnic PostNL).

This rapid start to the stage thinned the peloton significantly, and many riders were distanced from the peloton, including a group containing race leader Jonathan Milan, who was swarmed by his Lidl-Trek teammates with the hope of bringing him back to the peloton when the race eventually calmed down.

Shortly after, there was some GC action at the intermediate sprint where Pogačar picked up two bonus seconds and Evenepoel claimed one.

Eventually, a group of 13 riders broke clear of the peloton and established itself as the day’s breakaway. This included: Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Axel Laurance, Michael Leonard (INEOS Grenadiers), Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek), Harold Tejada (XDS Astana), Iván Romeo (Movistar), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), Brieuc Rolland (Groupama-FDJ), Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech), Eddie Dunbar (Team Jayco AlUla), Louis Barré (Intermarché-Wanty), and Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies).

It was proving to be a difficult day for the race leader, as Milan was distanced from the peloton again on the Côte de Malataverne, but the Italian doggedly fought his way back to the bunch after the summit on a warm and fast day of racing.

The break’s lead never exceeded more than a few minutes, as the peloton remained alert throughout the stage, and attention turned to the final categorised climb of the stage. The Côte de Château Jaune (1.2km at 9.5%) looked set to serve as a key point of action with 20 kilometres of the stage remaining.

Lipowitz was the first from the breakaway to push the pace on that climb before Bernard and Tejada proved to be strong as the duo pulled away from the rest before being rejoined by Lipowitz and then Leknessund. Behind in the peloton, Milan was distanced once more on the steep slopes as his chances of consecutive stage wins grew slim.

At the summit, the quartet held a 10-second gap over the rest of the remaining breakaway group led by Van der Poel, and they were just over a minute ahead of the peloton with 17km remaining. Milan was around 30 seconds behind the peloton at this point, as it began to look like a stage for the breakaway.

The two breakaway groups reunited as they entered a difficult phase of the race where not every rider was contributing, leading to a tactical affair and a flurry of attacks from the likes of Van der Poel, Tejada and Romeo to try and get clear of the rest. Lipowitz was particularly active at the front, and behind the peloton, continued to pace to keep the gap in check to the German who could pose a threat in the GC later in the week if given too big an advantage.

In the end, it was Romeo who found the golden ticket as he was able to pull away from the rest with a shade under 6km go to, and the powerful Spanish rider was not going to be caught.

Romeo crossed the line in Charantonnay victorious and moved into the yellow jersey. Behind Tejada and Barré rounded out the podium at 14 seconds behind Romeo.