2017 Critérium du Dauphiné Stage 5 Results & Recap
Stage 5 of the 2017 Critérium du Dauphiné is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Bauhaus wins in Macon
Team Sunweb’s Phil Bauhaus won stage 5 of the Critérium du Dauphiné after upsetting the big names in the final sprint to the line in Mâcon. The German outkicked green jersey Arnaud Démare (FDJ) by half a bike length to take the first WorldTour win of his career. Bryan Coquard (Direct Energie) finished third after 175 km of racing though Beaujolais region.
“It feels really good,” Bauhaus said. “My shape is quite good. I'm super happy that everything worked out today. Also on stage 2, my sprinting was quite good [5th]. At the Giro d'Italia, I came close to the podium twice. Now with the support of the team, I take the biggest win of my career so far. Today I felt I had good legs from the beginning of the stage so I was confident for the sprint. My legs were good enough to take them [Alexander Kristoff and Arnaud Démare] on.”
Thomas De Gendt remains in the yellow jersey yet another day. The Belgian is in the GC lead by 27 seconds ahead of Richie Porte.
“I'm glad to still be in the lead after today's stage but I expect to lose the jersey tomorrow,” De Gendt said. “It'll be an easy stage until the bottom of the climb. Then it'll be a big war for GC. I suppose guys like [Esteban] Chaves who are behind on GC will try to go. There's a descent after the big climb [Mont du Chat]. I don't think the GC contenders will let me go in a breakaway. They know that I can go far in the mountains. But on Saturday and Sunday, something else can happen.”
How it transpired
Julien El Farès started the day’s action, instigating an attack that saw Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale Drapac Team), Marco Minnaard (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Koen Bouwman (LottoNL-Jumbo) join in just two kilometres into the stage.\nThe gap to the break steadily increased until Katusha took over 50 kilometres into the stage. At the col de Fut d'Avenas the quartet hit the maximum gap the peloton would allow at 5 minutes and 20 seconds.\nBouwman joined the group with the KOM jersey in mind. Over the course of the stage, he scored max points on five of the six climbs before cracking 25 kilometres from the finishing line. His efforts left him with polka dot jersey at the end of the day.
“I got a lot of morale after I won a stage,” Bouwman said. “Someone close to me passed away. He was a guy I should be thankful to. He always took care of young cyclists. I fought for the polka dot jersey for him today. I'm really happy with how I got at this race. Before stage 1, I would have been happy if only I could make the breakaway one day and I've done much more than that. I even have a stage win. Tomorrow I'll take an easy day in the peloton. I'm done right now. Maybe on Saturday on the way to L'Alpe d'Huez, I'll try to go in a breakaway again.”
Team Katusha, Dimension Data and FDJ switched hands at the front of the peloton with 50 km to go, determined not to make the same mistake they did on stage 1 and 3, when catch was mistimed and the break was allowed to stay away.
With 35 kilometres to go, the gap dropped to two minutes and 27 seconds. Le Fares and Minnaard both lost contact at the 20-kilometre mark, leaving Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale Drapac Team) to go at it alone with a slight advantage of 40 seconds.
The Cannondale Drapac rider was reeled in with 7 km to go, leaving the peloton to jostle for position as it hurtled toward Macon. Katusha was doing most of the lead out for Alexander Kristoff, which Bauhaus took advantage of while Demare found himself boxed in.
Unofficial top 5: 1. Phil Bauhaus (SUN) | 2. Arnaud Démare (FDJ) |3. Bryan Coquard (Direct Energie) | 4. Adrien Petit (Direct Energie) 5. Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits)
Unofficial top 5 GC: 1. Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) | 2. Richie Porte (BMC Racing Team) at 27” |3. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) at 51” |4. Stef Clement (LottoNL-Jumbo) at 55” | 5. Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) at 1’02”\n
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