Tadej Pogacar takes stage 1 at Critérium du Dauphiné as big guns deny sprinters

Tadej Pogačar delivered a top-class performance to take the opening stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné on a stage that delivered pure entertainment in a blockbuster finish. There was a flurry of late attacks on the final climb of the day, the Côte de Buffon, and over the summit, before a world-class quintet found themselves ahead of the peloton. Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) held off the marauding peloton in a fast and furious finish to spoil the sprinters' party. 

It's the first stage win for the world champion at the Critérium du Dauphiné, though his only previous appearance at the race came back in 2020. Pogačar will now replace the rainbow bands with the yellow jersey, which he will hope to keep until the end of stage 8.

As is often the case, the Critérium du Dauphiné kicked off with a hilly affair, which looked primed for a fast finisher who could manage the hills well. Beginning in Domérat, the anticipation was high as Pogačar, Vingegaard, and Evenepoel lined up at the same race for the first time since the Tour de France last July.

The French duo of Paul Ourselin (Cofidis) and Pierre Thierry (Arkéa - B&B Hotels) attacked and formed the breakaway. At all times kept on a relatively tight leash, as their gap never grew bigger than a few minutes, the duo never posed a serious threat to the peloton in terms of the stage win. Ourselin took enough points to claim the lead in the mountains classification and will wear the polka dot jersey tomorrow.

There was a brief moment of action as Ben Healy (EF Education EasyPost) attacked, followed by teammate Archie Ryan on the second ascent of the Côte de Buffon, and the gap was closed by none other than Pogačar with Vingegaard nearby. Shortly after, with 37 kilometres remaining, Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious) attacked from the bunch and joined Thierry up the road, with Ourselin having been distanced.

“I was prepared to come back to the bus pretty fast after the finish to take a shower in the bus but I don’t mind being here,” Pogačar said after his surprising trip to the podium.

“I followed the moves on the steep part of the climb. Visma was really going for the stage win, they were all attacking on the top. Fortunately, I had good legs and I covered all the attacks. Jonas attacked on the top and that was painful, but luckily it was downhill after that.”

“With 2k to go I started to think more about the sprint. Van der Poel was the fastest in this group but in a finish like this, you cannot count the rest out, they can be fast after a tough day. 

“It’s a stage win, so I can go home from Dauphiné happy already but I still want to see how my shape will be in the mountain stages.” 

It was a super strong ride from Wright, who eventually found himself solo, and he held off the peloton until the foot of the Côte de Buffon with 7 kilometres remaining. The race lit up from the bottom of the climb as Axel Laurance (Ineos Grenadiers) launched the first attack. Lukas Nerurkar found himself with a small gap over the top, but this was closed by Matteo Jorgenson. 

In the preceding kilometres, there were attacks from Maxim Van Gils before Jonas Vingegaard launched a vicious attack and was followed by Pogačar, Van der Poel and Buitrago. Evenepoel managed to bridge across as Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek) paced in the peloton behind, in the hope of bringing things back for Jonathan Millan. The quintet upfront worked well together as they held a small gap over the chasing and frantic peloton.

The group was still marginally ahead beneath the flamme rouge, as Van der Poel set the pace on the front and the former world champion launched the sprint. The peloton made contact just as the sprint began but they couldn't come past the escapees. Van der Poel's effort faded in the closing metres, and Pogačar swooped past to take the stage win, while Vingegaard did enough to take second. Van der Poel held on for third ahead of Evenepoel.