2020 Critérium du Dauphiné Stage 1 Results & Recap
Stage 1 of the 2020 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
Van Aert on fire at Dauphine opener
Wout van Aert (Team Jumbo-Visma) is on fire this season, winning not only the Strade Bianche and Milan Sanremo, but picking up his first win at the opening day of the Critérium du Dauphiné. The 25 year old outsprinted Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) and Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) at the end of a long, lumpy stage to launch himself into the yellow leaders jersey.
"Apparently I have good legs,” van Aert said. “I was feeling tired yesterday but the team still wanted to do a perfect job for me today. We have such a team with Tony Martin, Tom Dumoulin and Primoz Roglic who worked for me in the sprint. I couldn’t miss this opportunity. It was really good to see the finish line before the finish. When we passed first, I told the guys I felt really good. It gave me a lot of motivation. This is a big team victory and we’re going to try and keep going. The leader’s jersey is another achievement. It’s the first time for me. I hope it’s a good sign ahead of the Tour and I’ll try to enjoy my day tomorrow. Now we have four summit finishes after long climbs. What I saw from the boys today motivates me to switch roles and become a super domestique."
GC favorite Bernal had excellent placing at the end of the 218km stage to finish third, and in an excellent position to set up for the rest of the week.
“The truth is I feel good to be in this position after a hard long stage,” Bernal said. “We had to be ready from the start for a long day on the saddle and then it was about being super attentive in the final circuit, with lots of ups and downs and an explosive finish. We’ve worked well and I didn’t expect to be in such a good position but it’s a good sign. I’m really happy. It makes me think of last year’s Tour and Van Aert was already very strong. We’re getting closer to the Tour de France and this is a World Tour race, so it’s not about Jumbo-Visma versus Team Ineos. There are many strong teams ready for battle and we need to respect them.”
The Critérium du Dauphiné started out from Clermont-Ferrand. It took just 10km for Brent van Moer (Lotto Soudal), Niccolò Bonifazio (Total Direct Energie), Michael Schär (CCC Team), Quinten Hermans (Circus-Wanty Gobert) and Tom-Jelte Slagter (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) to breakaway from the peloton.
Deceuninck-Quick Step’s Tim Declercq and Jumbo-Visma’s Tony Martin took their place at the front of the peloton, allowing the break to get a maximum of six minutes.
Bonifazio was the first to drop out of the break, suffering from back pain, and then Brent Van Moer (Lotto Soudal) and Quinten Hermans (Circus-Wanty Gobert) crashed and abandoned, leaving Michael Schär (CCC Team) and Tom-Jelte Slagter (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) to go at it alone.
Slagter gave up the ghost on the Cat. 4 Côte de Saint-Héand and Schär took off alone for the final 50km of racing. The gap became close enough for Quentin Pacher (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept), Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck-Quick Step) and Soren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb) to jump across.
Pacher joined Schär with 25km to go, but overcooked a sharp corner, taking out his chances. Then Schär was joined by Cavagna and Kragh Andersen.
Cavagna launched an aggressive attack in a bid to go solo, but a few kilometres later, it was all back together and ramping up for the finale.
Inside three kilometres to go, Rigoberto Uran (EF Pro Cycling) started things off with a move off the front that was immediately marked by the GC contenders. Jumbo Visma had control of the final metres, and launched van Aert to a textbook win. \n
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