The first mountain test at the Criterium du Dauphiné ended as planned for Tadej and his UAE Team Emirates – XRG team, with a victory in the 6th stage and the leader’s yellow jersey. First, his teammates did an exceptional job, setting a fierce pace at the foot of the climb to Côte de Domancy, and then Tadej made a strong acceleration 7.5 kilometers before the finish at the top of the climb to Col de la Cry – it was two connected categorized climbs with a total length of 9 km, taking the peloton through Combloux, the site of the time trial at the Tour de France in 2023.
For a while, the then winner Jonas Vingegaard (Visma Lease a Bike) followed him, but he also faded. Tadej pedaled to his 9th victory of the year, his second at the Dauphiné, after he also won the opening stage. In doing so, he gained a lead of 1:01 over his Danish rival, while Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick Step) finished the stage in 5th place, 1:50 behind Tadej.
The yellow jersey changed hands, with Tadej taking it with a lead of 43 seconds over Vingegaard and 54 seconds over Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe). Evenepoel slipped to 4th place with a deficit of 1:22.
»We had our own plan but then Visma started to go full gas on the first category climb and actually before the start, I didn’t know, but this climb I definitely did before and it brought back memories. The team was super strong, they were all really really incredible today, all the team actually. In the end, I felt good and we said to go from the bottom of the climb on the steepest part. We wanted to commit, we had nothing to lose and we can only gain,« Tadej said.
He then revealed that something was pushing him to the finish as quickly as possible. »In the end, it was a hot day, it was a hard day, and I needed to hurry up to see the finish of Urška on the Tour de Suisse. I was just in time, so all good!« he said, after catching his fiancée Urška Žigart in action at the Tour de Suisse (she holds 7th place in the GC) with his 97th career victory.
He was certainly satisfied with his performance. »I think I was feeling really good and when I attacked, it was an all out effort and I knew it was around 15 minutes after that to the top. I had to pace myself after the attack and the feeling was there, the legs were turning and it was just in my favour to be in the front then and gain time. One minute is good and I am super happy,« Tadej added.
He has to deal with two more challenging mountain stages at the Dauphiné, with tomorrow’s queen stage featuring more than 4,800 meters of elevation and three hors-category climbs, Col de la Madeleine, Col de la Croix de Fer, and Valmeinier 1800.