Jorgenson leads Visma to Dauphiné TTT glory as Baudin saves yellow

Netcompany-Ineos impressed on the 28.4km course, clocking the quickest time at the two intermediate checks, but they had to finish for second place at 9 seconds, with a dropped chain for Oscar Onley with 9km to go proving costly.

The team elected to wait for Onley, and the Scot proceeded to perform strongly with Kévin Vauquelin on the final climb, but it wasn’t enough to fend off the fast-finishing Visma effort.

The stage was run off according to ‘Paris-Nice rules,’ with times taken individually rather than on the fourth rider across the line, and teams generally elected to perform high-speed lead-outs for their leaders.

Jorgenson mastered the final climb alone to take stage victory, while Vauquelin and Onley have done their GC aspirations no harm with their display.

Juan Ayuso and Mattias Skjelmose led Lidl-Trek to fourth at 32 seconds, while Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) limited his losses to 45 seconds. 

It was a more difficult outing for Isaac del Toro, who lost 1:01 after leading his UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad to ninth place.

Visma’s victory was all the more impressive given that Wout van Aert was dropped early in their effort, while Ben Tulett was forced to swing off with a flat back tyre.

In the overall standings, Baudin leads Vauquelin and Onley by 12 seconds, with Jorgenson fourth at 15 seconds.

Jayco-AlUla were the early pace-setters, with Michael Matthews and Luke Plapp tackling the final climb together, but the Australian outfit would have to settle for eighth at day’s end, some 54 seconds down on Visma. 

After struggling on the opening day of the Dauphiné, João Almeida lasted into the last 3km of UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s effort before Isaac del Toro took on the final climb alone. Although the Mexican finished strongly, he would lose 1:01 on Jorgenson by day’s end.

Cian Uijtdebroeks’ fast finish – and Iván Roméo’s early efforts – briefly had Movistar in the hot seat, and they took seventh on the day, while Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, fifth at 40 seconds, also caught the eye.

Lidl-Trek produced a coherent effort, with Mattias Skjelmose leading Juan Ayuso across the line with what was then the fastest time, but they would finish the afternoon in fourth place.

It soon became apparent that the battle for stage honours would be a duel between Visma and Netcompany-Ineos, even though they both lost riders early on. Wout van Aert surprisingly struggled for Visma, while Sam Watson slipped his chain for Ineos.

Netcompany-Ineos lead Visma by two seconds at the first check and by six seconds at the second, but their effort was stalled when Onley slipped his chain with 9km to go. They elected to wait for him – to the visible frustration of Vauquelin – and that decision likely cost the Frenchman a spell in yellow.

Visma finished strongly despite Ben Tulett’s puncture, with Jorgenson soaring up the final climb to take stage honours.

EF, meanwhile, produced a fine display to take third on the stage, with Baudin flying solo in the final kilometre to retain his yellow jersey.

In the overall standings, Ayuso now trails by 47 seconds and Seixas by 1:00, while Del Toro is 16th at 1:16 – but there are still five stages and a whole lot of mountain passes yet to come.