Mitchelton-SCOTT successfully kept 26-year-old Adam Yates out of trouble on today’s lengthy sprint stage of Critérium du Dauphiné, to retain his overall lead after five-days of racing.
The Mitchelton-SCOTT rider stayed well protected and towards the front of the peloton for the majority of the race, eventually sprinting into 12th position on the stage, with Woet van Aert (Team Jumbo-Visma) claiming a consecutive victory.
A trio animate the stage
From the very start of the lengthy 201kilometre day a trio of riders, Alessandro de Marchi (CCC), Stephane Rossetto (Cofidis) and Yoann Bagot (Vital-Concepts), escaped from the peloton and quickly opened up an advantage of over two-minutes.
As the race leading team, Mitchelton-SCOTT took control and led the peloton with a steady chase for the majority of the day with some welcomed help from Bora-Hansgrohe.
Setting up for a sprint
Once the race passed the 50kilometre to go mark the sprint teams began to come to the fore, picking up the pace as the leading trio still remained around two-minutes in front.
With pan-flat roads all the way to the finish line, it was clear that the peloton wanted to take their final opportunity at a bunch sprint finish and the Australian outfit surrounded Yates, keeping the Brit well protected as the charge for the finish picked up.
After a furious pace was set in the final five kilometres, the breakaway trio were all finally caught with just one-kilometre remaining.
Another day in yellow
Finishing the day safely and on bunch time, the general classification remains much the same, with Yates maintaining his race leaded by four-seconds over Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Merida) as the climbs begin tomorrow on another lengthy 229kilometre stage.
Adam Yates – Overall race leader
“Nothing really happened until about 60kilometres to go today. The wind was picking up a little bit but still, it wasn’t the right direction or it wasn’t strong enough to do anything, so it was just a bit of stress in the peloton.
“I don’t know much about tomorrow’s final, the downhill at the end could be decisive but it’s not worth risking your life for gaining ten seconds.
“Any stage from now on is pretty hard, the last two are quite short and selective but as I said yesterday I’m feeling good. The sensations are good.”
Criterium du Dauphiné – Stage 5 Results:
1. Woet van Aert (Team Jumbo-Visma) 5:00:34
2. Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) ST
3. Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quickstep) ST
12. Adam Yates (Mitchelton-SCOTT) ST
General Classification after stage 5:
1. Adam Yates (Mitchelton-SCOTT) 17:28:00
2. Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Merida) +0:04
3. Tejay van Garderen (EF Education First) +0:06
