June 12 th 2025
The final sprint of the Critérium du Dauphiné 2025, ahead of three major mountain stages, saw Jake Stewart (Israel-Premier Tech) power to victory in Mâcon, after a fast and hard stage. Attackers tried to make the most of the climbs of the day to try and upset the sprinters. But the pack managed to catch the breakaway inside the last 2 kilometres, which seemed to be the perfect timing for Lidl-Trek to line up their train at the front and launch Jonathan Milan to a second stage win in this edition. But the Italian powerhouse, dropped earlier in the stage, couldn’t fend off his rivals and especially Stewart. On Sunday, he was already the fastest from the bunch… This time, there was nobody ahead to deprive him of his first UCI World Tour success. Remco Evenepoel went down in the finale but he retains the yellow and blue jersey.
On the day after Remco Evenepoel dominated the ITT from Charmes-sur-Rhône to Saint-Péray, a 149-man set off from Saint-Priest, without Michael Hepburn (Jayco AlUla), the fifth rider to abandon the Critérium du Dauphiné 2025. The 183 kilometres laid out in front of them, en route to Mâcon, are far less demanding than what’s coming in the Alps, but the stage still packs enough climbing to create real uncertainty about the scenario the riders will deliver.
A battle from the start
Enzo Leijnse (Picnic PostNL) and Pierre Thierry (Arkea-B&B Hotels) set off at km 1.5. They’re rapidly joined at the front by Jordan Labrosse (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) but the battle goes. EF Education-EasyPost and Cofidis drive the chase, counter-attackers launch new moves… But the situation settles as Bastien Tronchon (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) is caught by the bunch at km 24.
By that point, the gap has hit its maximum – 2’10’’ – and sprint teams – Lidl-Trek and Israel-Premier Tech – have taken the helm of the bunch to try and control the day.
Counter-attackers shake the race
The riders fly towards the hilly section of the day halfway through the stage and the gap drops down to 1’ ahead of the first climb of the day, the cat-3 Côte de Saint-Amour. Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) and Thibault Guernalec (Arkea-B&B Hotels) seize the opportunity to join the lead group at km 75.
They push their lead back up to 1’50’’ (km 96). But the race heats up again on the cat-3 ascents of Col de Fontmartin (km 109) and Col de Boubon (km 120.5). Mathieu Burgaudeau and Matteo Vercher (TotalEnergies) attack at the bottom of the first ascent and are quickly joined by Tobias Foss.
Another move sets off on the second one. Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost) and Gregor Muhlberger (Movistar) move past Burgaudeau and Vercher but Foss also follows that move. They trail by 1’10’’ as the race enters the last 50 kilometres. The peloton are 30’’ further behind.
Attackers resist, Stewart takes it
Lidl-Trek and Soudal Quick-Step join forces to catch the chasers with 46 kilometres to go. As for the lead group, their gap is down to 1’05’’. Labrosse ups the ante and Thierry is dropped from the front group. In the peloton, Alpecin-Deceuninck, Uno-X and Ineos Grenadiers work together to bring the gap down to 25’’ at the summit of the final climb of the day, Côte des Quatre Vents (27.2 km to go). Jonathan Milan is dropped just before the summit but his Lidl-Trek teammates quickly bring him back to the bunch.
Into the last 10 kilometres, Leijnse is dropped by Labrosse, Thomas and Guernalec, who maintain a gap of 18’’ to the peloton. They put in a strong resistance but are eventually caught just inside the last 2 kilometres with several teams working together at the front of the bunch.
Lidl-Trek take it to the front positions of the bunch. Milan seems to be in a perfect position when into the last kilometre but he can’t react when Jake Stewart (Israel-Premier Tech) flies past him to take victory ahead of Axel Laurance (Ineos Grenadiers) and Soren Waerenskjold (Uno-X Mobility).
Stage 5
- Thomas Jake Stewart (Israel – Premier Tech) 4h03’46”
- Axel Laurance (Ineos Grenadiers) +00”
- Soren Waerenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) +00”
GC
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) 18h34’54”
- Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe) +00’04”
- Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +00’14”
