Tadej Pogacar has won the Critérium du Dauphiné on Sunday. The Slovenian world champion’s overall victory was never in danger in the mountainous final stage. Mathieu van der Poel made a name for himself again.
The stage victory in the final stage to Plateau du Mont-Cenis went to Lenny Martinez. The 21-year-old Frenchman from Bahrain Victorious was the best of a breakaway group and crossed the finish line solo.
Behind him, Pogacar took it easy, after having already won three stages in this Dauphiné. The leader of UAE Team Emirates rode away from the group of favorites together with Jonas Vingegaard and granted his Danish rival second place in the stage result.
Pogacar adds the Critérium du Dauphiné to his palmares for the first time. He has almost a minute’s lead over Vingegaard in the general classification and did not even seem to exert himself excessively in the mountains. The next appointment between the two is on July 5, when the Tour de France starts.
Van der Poel rode the entire Dauphiné offensively and did so again in the final stage. He was in the leading group and even rode solo for tens of kilometers, but was caught at the foot of the final climb.
Along the way, Van der Poel collected the points from the intermediate sprint, but he fell short of taking the green jersey from Pogacar on the final day. The two have the same number of points, making the three stage wins of the Slovenian the difference.