The 71st edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné started today in Aurillac with a 142 km undulating stage. Five categorised climbs, one shortly before the finale, awaited the riders before they had to tackle two final laps in Jussac.
After some kilometres of racing a group of six riders built the day’s break, while BORA – hansgrohe took over the pace back in the peloton. The time difference was more than three minutes for the escapees with 69 km to go. Especially Cesare Benedetti and Shane Archbold pulled hard at the front of the bunch nearly the whole race.
The race headed onto the final laps, as the breakaway still had a gap of around one minute. Team Deceuninck – Quick-Step increased the pace and therefore some sprinters, also Sam Bennett, couldn’t follow the reduced peloton on the final tough ascent.
Approaching the finale, Gregor Mühlberger launched an attack and tried to bridge across but unfortunately the main bunch closed the gap. The race went on fire as the trio at the front was caught with 600 metres to go, with Gregor Mühlberger and Emanuel Buchmann in the first positions of the pack. In an exciting finish, the Austrian crossed the line in a strong fifth place, teammate Buchmann took 11th place on today’s opener.
Results
01 E. Boassen Hagen 3:24:33
02 P. Gilbert +0:00
03 W. van Aert +0:00
05 G. Mühlberger +0:00
11 E. Buchmann +0:00
