Pogačar swaps rainbows for yellow with surprise stage 1 win at the Dauphiné
The Critérium du Dauphiné's opening stage looked every bit like a one-day classic, and though a number of teams hoped to keep things under control for a sprint, including Jonathan Milan's Lidl-Trek, the GC contenders and Classics specialists were motivated to make something of the day, including pre-race favourites Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep).
In a dramatic run-in, it was Vingegaard who made a move stick with about 5 km to go, taking with him his two main rivals, as well as Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) and the ominous Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) who broke his wrist just two weeks ago. Lidl-Trek worked hard at the narrow gap, but the quintet worked well together and just about stayed away to the finish. Van der Poel opened up the sprint as the peloton closed in, but against all odds, both Pogačar and Vingegaard passed him in the closing metres, Evenepoel settling for fourth.
Jake Stewart (Israel-Premier Tech) led the peloton home in fifth place, catching the leaders a moment too late.
[race_result id=15 stage_id=86652 count=5 gc=0 year=2025]
[race_result id=15 stage_id=86652 count=5 gc=5 year=2025]
