Criterium du Dauphine: Impey wins stage 1

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Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) won the high-speed finish into Saint-Just-Saint-Rambert after several late attacks on the climb above the spectacular Granget dam reduced the peloton to just 65 riders and eliminated the pure sprinters.

The South African national champion followed the right wheels in the run-in to the finish, jumping past race leader Michel Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) before sprinting along the barriers to beat Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) and Patrick Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) by several bike lengths.

Kwiatkowski finished fifth in the same time as Impey and retained the leader's yellow jersey after winning Sunday's prologue time trial. However, Impey is now just two seconds down in the overall classification. All the expected overall contenders finished in the front group.

It was Impey's fourth victory of the 2018 season. He won the overall classification of the Tour Down Under in January and the road race and time trial titles in South Africa in February. He admitted that his latest win came thanks to instinct and by overcoming the feeling that he was not on a good day.

"I actually didn't feel very good and told Alex Edmondson that he should go for the finale himself. I surprised myself at the end. I found myself in a good position and decided to go with 200 metres to go. It was a long way out but I had good legs," Impey explained post-stage.

"To beat guys like Kwiatkowski and Alaphilippe just before the Tour de France is a nice step in my career. To win at the Dauphine – it's a big race - so I'm really chuffed. Sometimes the guys think you're going to be one of the favourites but to believe it is a different thing. Today I just kept fighting to the end. It was nice to show myself that I could be there."

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A nervous finale

Following Sunday's 6.6km prologue time trial, the 151 rider-peloton was keen to start road racing, with Monday's 179km rolling stage from Valence to Saint-Just-Saint-Rambert a chance for the fast finishers before the four decisive mountain stages later in the race. The race went off without Sunweb's Chris Hamilton and Laurens ten Dam, who were ill.

The break of the stage formed after just five kilometres, with Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Brice Feillu (Fortuneo-Samsic) and Lawson Craddock (EF-Education First-Drapac) jumping away. Their lead reached six minutes after 50km of racing, with Feillu cresting the first three categorized climbs first to ensure he pulled on the blue polka-dot climbers' jersey.

After Team Sky set a steady pace, Vital Concept and Quick-Step Floors took over the chase mid-stage, reducing the gap to three minutes when the riders collected lunch at the feed zone after 77.5km. Johan Le Bon and Britain's James Knox did much of the hard work on the front in the second half of the stage, bringing the gap down to a manageable minute as the final 28km and two rolling finishing circuits approached.
Edet, Feillu and Craddock passed the finishing area with a lead of 45 seconds with the peloton determined to close them down.

The twisting country roads and some summer rain made for a nervous finish, with several crashes during the two laps. Kiel Reijnen (Trek-Segafredo) and Luke Pibernik (Bahrain-Merida) went down with 18km to race. Both got going again but Reijnen finished 12 minutes down and in serious pain after landing on his shoulder. French talent David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) was also caught up in another spill.

Edet and Craddock were the last to be caught with 11km to go but the race soon exploded when Ivan Garcia Cortina (Bahrain-Merida) and then Dylan Teuns (BMC) attacked on the final climb with five kilometres to go. Team Sky controlled the attacks for Kwiatkowski but when Alaphilippe hit the front, the Polish rider moved too, with teammate Geraint Thomas and Michael Valgren (Astana) briefly forming what looked like a very dangerous move. However, the fast descent in the final kilometres saw the race come back together as the overall contenders and their teammates fought for position.

Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) tried his luck with a solo attack with one kilometre to go but he was quickly controlled by Gianni Moscon (Team Sky).

The likes of Bryan Coquard (Vital Concept) and Phil Bauhaus (Team Sunweb) were out of contention due to the late attacks and so the stage win was very much up for grabs. Lotto Soudal did a lot of work in the final kilometres for Tiesj Benoot and Jens Keukeleire but both were swamped as the downhill run-in launched the riders at speed.

Impey carefully stayed on the wheels but was well-placed and then hit-out slightly early, coming off Kwiatkowski's wheel. It was a risky move but worked out as Alaphilippe could not match him and Ackermann lost speed after touching elbows with Kwiatkowski.

The South African had doubts about his form but his powerful sprint allowed him to win by several bike lengths, meaning there was no doubt who was the stage winner.

Impey explained he is no betting man but it would be unwise to bet against him on Tuesday's 180km hilly stage from Montebrison to Belleville, north of Lyon.

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