‘… fortunately, I had good legs’ — Tadej Pogacar celebrates unexpected sprint win at the Critérium du Dauphiné

RHONE-ALPES, FRANCE: Tadej Pogacar clinched the victory in Stage 1 of the Critérium du Dauphiné with an impressive sprint. 

The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider outpaced top contenders Jonas Vingegaard (Visma Lease a Bike) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in the final sprint to seal the stage win and the race’s first yellow jersey. Moreover, this sprint finish was unexpected for Pogacar, marking his strong start to the eight-stage race. 

With this, Pogacar expressed: “Obviously, it’s good, but the real test is coming at the end of the weekend… I was not [expecting it]. I was all prepared to come back to the bus pretty fast after the finish, to take a shower in the bus, take a comfortable seat, and enjoy the rest of the day. But I don’t mind being here as well.” 

Highlights of the race

Pogacar’s victory came from a breakaway led by his opponent, Vingegaard. He made an unusual attack after the peloton slowed at the top of the Côte de Buffon, wherein Van der Poel and Pogacar followed. More so, Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal–Quick-Step) caught up to join the group of five top riders.

Van der Poel launched a sprint to try and beat Pogacar and Vingegaard with 1 km left. It was an intense moment, but Pogacar remained calm and surpassed Van der Poel to claim the stage win.

Pogacar admitted: “I followed the moves on the steep part of the climb, and then, Visma were clearly going for the stage win. They were trying, with everybody, to attack from the top. And that one was painful… And fortunately, I had good legs, and I covered all the attacks, and then, even Jonas, for the last one, for the cherry on the top, he attacked.” 

He added, “Around 2 km to go, I was starting to think more about the sprint than just the GC, and I knew that Van der Poel was the fastest, obviously, in this group, but after a finish like this, you cannot count all of the rest out, they can be fast as well after a tough day.”

Furthermore, Vingegaard admitted: “I had a good day, to be honest. I’m happy with how it went today. Happy that I could make a difference, so yeah, I guess it’s the first time I finished second in a bunch sprint. So I’m happy.” 

Stage 2 of the Critérium du Dauphiné will happen south of the suburb of Prémilhat, having 204.6 km of challenging, hilly terrain. The route includes six climbs, setting the stage for a tough day in the saddle before finishing in the town of Issoire.

In a social media post, Pogacar shared his win and said: “Stage 1 ✅ Great legs, great team, great start. A bit off-script, but super racing between the rivals in the final🤝
Onwards we go 💪.”

Netizens commented on the post: “Now a sprinter World champ 🌈🌈🔥🔥,” “Great job Tadej 🌈🤍💪🏻👑,” “It is going to be a fun tour 🙌🙌,” and “On another level yet again. What a sprint finish amongst the best rivals 💪.”