Solid, incident-free start to Critérium du Dauphiné

Critérium du Dauphiné (prologue)

Sütterlin, Arcas, Soler all within 20” bwhind Kwiatkowski (SKY) at opening 6km prologue in Valence.

Former World champion Michal Kwiatkowski (SKY) is the first leader of the Critérium du Dauphiné after narrowly winning the 6.5km ITT prologue in Valence, which the Movistar Team riders covered without any setbacks.

Jasha Sütterlin -27th in the day, 17” behind the winner- was the top Movistar Team performer on a route where six of the Blues stayed less than half a minute back. Both Marc Soler (+20”) and Jaime Rosón (+25”) went unscathed and clocked decent times.

The Alpine event will offer two chances for the sprinters before Wednesday’s TTT, though Monday’s stage one to Saint-Just-Saint-Rambert (179km) will contain no less than seven rated ascents (Cat-3 and Cat-4).