Benson Bulletin: Critérium du Dauphiné stage 6 🇫🇷
Analysing the first key mountain stage as Pogačar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel go head-to-head
Hi Subscribers,
I took a day off from the transfer beat to focus on the first key mountain stage at this year’s Critérium du Dauphiné as the key favourites clashed on the road to Combloux.
In this newsletter, we analyse the performances of Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel, Florian Lipowitz, Carlos Rodríguez and several other protagonists.
There’s a lot to unpack!
Daniel 🫶
P.S: I updated the Rider Transfer Index page this morning with all the latest moves, insight and analysis.
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Wobble, what wobble? 🇸🇮
There seemed to be this mild hysteria and panic after the stage 4 time trial to Saint-Péray, when Tadej Pogačar conceded time to both the Olympic TT champion, Remco Evenepoel, and Jonas Vingegaard. Granted, the Slovenian wasn’t super, but any concerns over his form were extinguished on Friday’s first mountain stage of the Dauphiné.
The UAE leader didn’t even need to get out of the saddle on the final two ascents. Yet, he put a minute into his perennial Danish rival and almost two into Evenepoel over the final 7.3km of the stage. Normality or the unbelievable nature of modern cycling restored, whichever way you want to look at it.
This wasn’t a one-man show, however, with Pogačar wisely utilising his team on the final set of climbs. He cut an isolated figure on the Côte de Mont-Saxonnex when Visma-Lease a Bike put the hammer down and successfully isolated Evenepoel and Pogačar from the rest of their teammates, but on the valley road before the Côte de Domancy, a slight regrouping saw Pavel Sivakov, Tim Wellens and Jhonatan Narváez rejoin the GC group.
At the foot of the penultimate climb, it was Narváez who caused the damage, not Pogačar, with the Ecuadorian setting a blistering pace that only his leader, Wellens (briefly), and Vingegaard could maintain. The surge of power from Narváez shattered the rest of the GC group, and by the time Wellens took over, the Belgian was already at his limit. Pogačar recognised that he needed to seize the moment, and with one seated acceleration, he drew Vingegaard into the open and then duly dropped him less than 100m later. It was a sobering sight, witnessing Vingegaard out of the saddle, sprinting, and still unable to hold Pogačar's wheel.
Over the final 7km, the gap only extended with Pogačar looking effortless, like he was out training, while Vinegaard grimaced and ground his way to the finish.
Regarding the inevitable Pogačar-Vingegaard battle likely to unfold at the Tour de France in a few weeks, it’s easy to become absorbed in the present and extrapolate from what we’ve seen so far, and extend it all the way to Paris.
However, we aren't at that stage yet. Like the time trial, this is just one day, and we still have two more mountain stages to navigate. It’s worth remembering that the Dane is only just returning to racing after injury, whereas Pogačar hasn’t had any serious missteps all year. While it’s true we could face a GC battle as lacklustre as last year’s Tour, there’s still a considerable amount of road to cover before reaching that point.