Critérium du Dauphiné (st. 3)
Spaniard off main group with 4km remaining on stage three, as Roglic (TJV) defends well his yellow jersey with 2nd place behind successful escapee Formolo (UAD).
/ Today’s route
Friday’s stage three was a 157km trek from Corenc to the top of Saint-Martin-de-Belleville, a Cat-1 climb (14.8km at 6%) preceded by one of the most legendary cycling summits in the Alps: La Madeleine (HC), a 17.3km ascent at 8.3% average with its stop at exactly 2,000 meters above sea level.
/ Weather report
After hailstones falling down over the Col de Porte for many riders at the back of the field near the end of Thursday’s stage two, it was quite a more comfortable day for the entire peloton on Friday. Temperatures were a bit less warm than yesterday, with 26ºC in the valleys and fair skies.
/ Keys to the race
- It took quite long before the early breakaway was formed, which made for a crazy average after one hour of racing: 50km were covered into the first 60 minutes. In the end, nine riders were let go by the field: Oss (BOH), Latour (ALM), Juul-Jensen (MTS), Niv (ISN), Sütterlin, S. Kragh (SUN), Jungels (DQT), Formolo (UAD) and Chevalier (BVC). The pace by Jumbo-Visma at the front of the bunch, which was briefly supplanted by Arkea through the climb of La Madeleine, did not prevent the gap from growing up to a decisive six minutes over the top, as Formolo left behind his break companions.
- As Rojas and Oliveira took an early role in protecting their leaders, five Movistar Team riders reached the last climb inside the reduced GC group: Soler, Verona, Pedrero, Enric Mas and Alejandro Valverde. Antonio was again the two Blue references’ main support in the Saint-Martin-de-Belleville climb, where both performed at a level similar to Thursday’s. Alejandro lost contact with 7km remaining and Enric, who dropped with less than 4k left, finished in 23rd place, just over a minute and a half behind the main favourites.
- Ahead of them resisted a brilliant Formolo, who contained by a slim margin a GC group led home by solid race leader Primoz Roglic (TJV), who put some seconds on Colombians López (AST), Quintana (ARK) and Bernal (INS). At the standings, Mas now sits in 20th place, 3’33” behind the Slovenian.
/ Upcoming goals
At Saturday’s fourth, penultimate stage, the Dauphiné will start climbing the cols in the Savoie area. No less than seven climbs are scheduled in the 157km route between Ugine and Megève: Épine (Cat-1), Plan Bois (Cat-1), Croix Fry (Cat-1), Aravis (Cat-3), Héry-sur-Ugine (Cat-2) and a brutal, final two climbs chained: Bisanne (HC; 12.4km, 8,2%) and the Montée de l’Altiport (Cat-2; 7.4km at 4.7%).
Cover picture (c): Photo Gomez Sport / BettiniPhoto