August 16/20 16:22 pm - Critérium du Dauphiné: Stage 5 and Final GC

Posted by Editoress on 08/16/20
 

The final stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné turned the race upside down with aggressive racing from the start with major gaps on the line. The race leader Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) abandoned after a crash on Saturday and the runner-up Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) couldn’t maintain his advantage over Daniel Martinez (EF Pro Cycling), who attacked on the Côte de Domancy to claim the overall victory, the biggest win of his career. With his team mate Roglic on his way home, Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) enjoyed the freedom and made the most of it to claim victory after an impressive day at the front.

The overall leader Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) was not part of the 136 riders taking the start in Megève after a crash on Stage 4. "The evolution of his injuries will determine the plans for the upcoming races", his team reports on Twitter. Groupama-FDJ’s Thibaut Pinot is the new overall leader and the race appears to be wide open with the many climbing challenges lying ahead of the riders in this 5th and last stage of the 2020 Critérium du Dauphiné.

Pinot in the early break
Many riders were willing to make the most of an opportunity and a major battle was on from the start. The bunch split on the cat-2 Côte de Domancy (2.5km at 9.4%). Thibaut Pinot was a featured rider in an 11-man group at the front, with Jumbo-Visma’s Tom Dumoulin and Sepp Kuss showing their intentions. Guillaume Martin, 2nd overall after Roglic’s abandon, is one of the riders forced to chase.

The battle continues on the HC ascent of the Col de Romme. Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step) is among the most aggressive riders at the front. Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic) struggles at the back. David de la Cruz (UAE Team Emirates) takes the 15 KOM points at the summit to tighten his grip on the polka-dot jersey.

An impressive GC group
The race settles down in between the Col de Romme and Col de la Colombière, with an impressive group of 24 riders at the front: Thibaut Pinot and Sebastian Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ), Miguel Angel Lopez and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), Hugh Carthy and Daniel Martinez (EF Pro Cycling), Lennard Kämna (BORA-hansgrohe), Jonathan Castroviejo and Pavel Sivakov (Team Ineos), Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step), Tom Dumoulin, Sepp Kuss and Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale), Tadej Pogacar and David de la Cruz (UAE Team Emirates), Alejandro Valverde and Enric Mas (Movistar), Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), Marc Hirschi (Sunweb), Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic), Mikel Landa (Bahrain-McLaren), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) and Kris Neilands (Israel Start-Up Nation).

Pavel Sivakov and Julian Alaphilippe accelerate 3km away from the summit of La Colombière. Sébastien Reichenbach drives the bunch and controls the gap around 1 minute while Mikel Landa struggles and trails by nearly 4 min at km 83.

All-in up the Côte de Domancy
Reichenbach, Van Aert and De la Cruz set the pace in the valley toward the final climbs of the day. Pavel Sivakov crashes with 32km to go but manages to get back to Alaphilippe at the bottom of the Côte de Domancy, 25km from the finish.

Tadej Pogacar, Miguel Angel Lopez, Sepp Kuss and Daniel Martinez accelerate on the ascent and make their way to the front. Martinez is the main threat for Thibaut Pinot, only trailing by 12s on GC at the start of the stage. The French climber seems unable to react and the gap is up to 1:25 atop the penultimate climb of the day, Côte de Cordon (15.5km to go).

Martinez makes history
The Pinot group then brings the gap down to 45s but Kuss goes solo just before of the final climb of the day, 8km away from the finish. The American climber went all-in to take the victory 27s ahead of Daniel Martinez. Thibaut Pinot crossed the line in 7th position, with a delay of 1:02.

Daniel Martinez is the third Colombian to win the Critérium du Dauphiné, after Martin Ramirez (1984) and Luis Herrera (1988 and 1991). Thibaut Pinot finishes 2nd overall (+29s). He climbs on the podium of the Dauphiné for the first time of his career and so does his compatriot Guillaume Martin (+41s).

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