The Danish Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), became the absolute winner of the 75th edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné. The Scandinavian easily defended the lead in the grueling final stage and showed his great condition heading into the Tour de France by finishing behind the runaway Giulio Ciccone.
The eighth fraction included a very tough route with no less than six climbs, the Col du Granier (9.6 km at 8.6%), the Col du Cucheron (7.7 km at 6.2%) and the Col de Porte (7.4 km at 6.8%). In addition, the goal in Grenoble was set on the climb to La Bastille, a super steep 1.8 kilometer ‘wall’ at an average of 14.2%.
In the initial phase there was a great battle to arm the leak, where big names left their mark. Richard Carapaz, Julian Alaphilippe, Giulio Ciccone and Attila Valter, went on the attack, but these first attempts were soon neutralized.
Victor Campenaerts was also very active in the initial phase. The Belgian from Lotto Dstny tried to defend his mountain jersey and was the first to climb the Col de Pinet and the second-category Col des Mouilles.
Campenaerts was joined by Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step), Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), Clément Champoussin (Arkéa-Samsic), David De La Cruz (Astana Qazaqstan), Franck Bonnamour (AG2R Citroën), Tiesj Benoot (Jumb0 -Visma), Ivo Oliveira and Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates).
Going up the Col du Granier, the advantage of the leading group increased to around three minutes. Alaphilippe and Ciccone quickly proved to be the strongest climbers of the breakaway and distanced themselves from their breakaway partners.
The expected spectacle did not materialize at the Col du Cucheron, but at the Col de Porte the race broke out completely. Ciccone changed his pace again and with three kilometers to go to reach the top he went solo.
In the group of favourites, Adam Yates sped up. Only one runner was able to keep up with the Briton: Vingegaard. While Jai Hindley, Ben O’Connor and Jack Haig closely pursued the top two overall.
Ahead, Ciccone was able to hold on to his half-minute lead on the descent en route to this Dauphiné’s final hurdle: the excruciatingly steep (average 14%) final climb at Grenoble to La Bastille.
Clearly the Italian had something left and he did not hold back on the steep flanks of the final climb. The Dane Vingegaard launched into the attack, chasing the leading Ciccone, but the latter did not let himself be caught and achieved a great stage victory.
Latinos did not have their best day. The best beetle was Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) in 17th place, more than two minutes from the winner, which allowed him to finish in 12th place in the general classification.
For his part, Daniel Felipe Martínez (Ineos Grenadiers) entered the 34th position with a delay of more than 10 minutes and Esteban Chaves (EF Education-EasyPost) was reported in 63rd position at 24:37 behind Ciccone; while the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz was 110 at 30:13 minutes.
Source: Revista Mundo Ciclístico