The Critérium du Dauphiné began with a beautiful and unexpected victory for Tadej in Montluçon. In the opening 195.8-kilometer stage, a sprint finish was expected, but in the undulating finale, the main contenders for the yellow jersey battled it out. About five kilometers before the finish, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma Lease a Bike) made a strong move, followed by Tadej, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin Deceuninck), Remco Evenepoel (Bahrain Victorious), and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious).
Although this group of five only gained a few seconds advantage, they stayed at the front all the way to the finish line, where Tadej was the strongest in the sprint ahead of Vingegaard, van der Poel, and Evenepoel. »I didn’t expect such an outcome. I was already prepared to quickly head to the team bus after the stage, take a shower, and enjoy the rest of the day. But I have nothing against being here,« Tadej said after having to attend the awards ceremony.
»I followed the moves on the steep part of the climb. It was clear that Visma wanted a stage win, they attacked with all their riders. Luckily, I had good enough legs to cover all the attacks. As the cherry on top, Jonas attacked at the top of the climb, and when I followed him, it was painful, but fortunately, the rest of the stage was mostly downhill. I was able to recover a bit and started thinking about the sprint 2 kilometers before the finish, not just the overall standings. I knew van der Poel was the fastest in the group, but in such a finish, you can’t write anyone off. After such a hard day, any of the other riders could have been very fast. Two kilometers before the finish, I focused on the sprint, and it worked out,« Tadej described his path to his 8th victory of the year and 96th overall as a professional.
He is wearing the yellow jersey for the first time at the Critérium du Dauphiné, where he only competed in 2020 and finished in 4th place. »I won a stage, so I could go home satisfied from this race, but I would like to see what my shape is like in the time trial and mountain stages. After today’s victory, I can’t say my form is incredible, it’s obviously good, but the real test comes at the end of this week,« added Tadej. He faces the time trial in the 4th stage on Wednsday, and the decisive stages of the 77th Critérium du Dauphiné will be the last three in the Alps.