Although the 8th stage of the Criterium du Dauphine was also extremely demanding, it unfolded without major complications for Tadej. With the help of his teammates from UAE Team Emirates – XRG he safely crossed the finish line in the yellow jersey and celebrated his first victory at this one-week French test. The hero of the day was Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), the strongest in the breakaway.
On the last day of the race, in which the peloton had to overcome 3,500 meters of altitude in the Alps, Tadej simply followed the moves of his rivals. He did this even when Jonas Vingegaard (Visma Lease a Bike) attacked just under 7 kilometers from the finish.
He rode to the finish line with his Danish rival and let him take 2nd place in the stage, but 3rd was enough for Tadej to celebrate victory in the final classification, 59 seconds ahead of Vingegaard and 2:38 ahead of Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe).
»We have had an exceptional week. Once again, our team did an excellent job, we defended the yellow jersey, we can go home satisfied and then prepare for the Tour,« said Tadej, after repeating Bernard Hinault’s achievement from 1981. The legendary Frenchman was the last to celebrate victory in the Dauphiné as the current world champion.
Tadej did not only celebrate the final victory this week, he also won the 1st, 6th and 7th stages on the way to it. This brought his total for the year to 11 wins, and his career total to 99.
»A lot of positive things happened to us this week, and we turned what was negative into a positive. Everything ended well. I was here in 2020, the race was shortened due to the corona times. It was one of the most difficult five days of my career. I haven’t been back yet and finally I did it, I’m very happy and proud,« continued Tadej. He will be chasing his fourth victory, the second in a row, at the Tour from July 5 to 27.
A convincing performance at the dress rehearsal is definitely a good prospect before the highlight of the season, which will start in Lille. »We will go to high-altitude training at Isola 2000, and before the Tour we will go home for a few days. We can’t do much more, we need to rest after this week and do some extra work on the time trial. Then I’ll be ready,« added Tadej.