World champion begins Critérium du Dauphiné in style, out-sprinting Jonas Vingegaard to the line, as Ivo Oliveira triumphs on Tour of Slovenia final day
Sunday 8 June, 2025
The script was well and truly ripped up on stage 1 of the Critérium du Dauphiné, with Tadej Pogačar storming to the day’s victory for UAE Team Emirates-XRG. Going against all pre-race expectations, the world champion formed a late breakaway alongside the likes of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), before winning a breathtaking sprint in Montluçon.
It was a captivating opening encounter in France, with Vingegaard and Pogačar both on the attack on a day that would ordinarily have ended in a bunch sprint. Under their initiative, an all-star breakaway broke free of the peloton late in the stage, promising a thrilling showdown between the Tour de France favorites.
Alongside Pogačar and Vingegaard were Evenepoel, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), with the five-man group going clear of the peloton with a little under 5km to ride. The world’s best had gathered at the Dauphiné and with the Côte de Buffon (0.6km à 8.8%) softening the bunch, there was no suitable response to this remarkable move.
There was tension within the final kilometre, all the same, as those behind prepared a rearguard action to bring things back together for a bunch sprint. Feeling their presence over his shoulder, Van der Poel launched a lengthy sprint with 300m to go, offering an opening for Pogačar to take advantage of his recent Paris-Roubaix foe.
As Van der Poel faded, Pogačar surged, powering his way to the stage 1 victory ahead of Vingegaard and the Dutchman. Evenepoel was forced to settle for fourth, as Buitrago was swallowed by the peloton behind. With the stage victory, Pogačar rides his way into the lead of the Critérium du Dauphiné.
In turn, he will begin tomorrow’s second stage in the yellow jersey, a feeling he will hope becomes familiar over the next couple of months.
Pogačar: “I was all prepared to come back to the bus pretty fast after the finish, to take a shower and a comfortable seat. But I don’t mind being here as well!
“I followed the moves on the steep parts of the climb and then Visma were clearly going for the stage win. They were trying with everybody to attack me on the top, and fortunately, I had good legs and I covered all the attacks.
“Even Jonas, for the cherry on the top, he attacked me and that one was painful. But we were downhill almost all the way down to the finish, so I could recover a bit and around 2km to go, I was thinking more about the sprint.
“I knew that Van der Poel was the fastest in this group, but after a finish like this, you can’t count anybody out. I switched my focus around 2km to go to prepare the sprint and it worked.
“It’s a stage win. I can go home from Dauphiné happy already but I still want to see how the shape will be in the TT and on the mountain stages. The real test is coming at the end of the weekend.”
Critérium du Dauphiné 2025 stage 1 results
- Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 4:40:12
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) s.t
- Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) s.t
General classification after Critérium du Dauphiné stage 1
- Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 4:40:12
- Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +4″
- Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +6″
