From the crest of Col de la Madeleine, Davide Formolo (UAE Team Emirates) had an impressive five-plus-minute advantage over the peloton on stage 3 at the Critérium du Dauphiné. Under the flamme rouge near the finish atop Saint-Martin-de-Belleville, the Italian national champion powered to hold off the race leaders for the win.
"On the last climb I didn’t know if I could make it," Formolo said about his solo effort. "I was looking at the profile and saw the Madeleine was really hard then I saw this last climb was slightly up and down the whole time. I thought it would be impossible to make a big difference in the break so I’d better attack on the Madeleine, and then pray I came to the finish line.”
It turned out to be a successful solo attack for the final 60k of the 157-kilometre stage.
General classification leader Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) charged from the chase group and crossed the line for bonus points in second place. He was followed by Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), who will continue second in G.C.
Formolo grimaced and began to struggle in the closing kilometres of the final category 1 climb. Behind him Jumbo-Visma's Sepp Kuss picked up the pace for his leader Roglic, who accelerated and closed the gap to 33 seconds on Formolo on the line. His second-place finish put time into his rivals, with six bonus seconds.
Two more days of racing continue over the weekend, with both stages featuring summit finishes.
Watch the summary of stage 3 of the Critérium du Dauphiné in the video highlights above.
