Critérium du Dauphiné: Gaudu pips Van Aert to win stage 3

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David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) won stage 3 of the Critérium du Dauphiné after he beat Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) in a group sprint atop the category 2 ascent to Chastreix-Sancy.

Van Aert lifted his arms in premature celebration as he approached the line, and he realised his error immediately as Gaudu dived past at the last to claim the honours. The Belgian champion had the consolation of retaking the yellow jersey after overnight leader Alexis Vuillermoz (TotalEnergies) was distanced on the final climb, but he will rue his mistake here.

That said, Gaudu’s finishing speed was such that he might well have taken the spoils even without Van Aert’s sin of presumption. The Breton delivered a perfectly-timed effort to come past Van Aert and Victor Lafay (Cofidis) to take his second win of the season after his triumph on the similar hilltop sprint at Fóia at the Volta ao Algarve in February. His subsequent spring campaign, however, was ruined by a back injury and illness.

“I haven’t had a win like that since the start of the year,” said Gaudu. “After all my problems in March and April, that does me a lot of good. The doubts are behind me. It’s promising for what’s to come, because my legs responded well on the climb.”

In the overall standings, Gaudu moves up to second, 6 seconds behind Van Aert. Lafay is third at 12 seconds, while the principal GC contenders, including Van Aert’s teammate Primož Roglič, are grouped at 16 seconds.

As anticipated, Jumbo-Visma were to the fore on the 6km climb to the finish, with Jonas Vingegaard catching the eye with his multi-tasking on Van Aert’s behalf. After a flurry of attacks midway up the climb, the Dane imposed order on affairs with a long, long stint of pace-making that served to whittle down the front group.

When Vingegaard swung off with 1.3km to go, Ben O’Connor (AG2R Citroën) placed an attack that was quickly snuffed out by Roglič. The Slovenian then hit the front himself, but he opted to lower the pace while Vingegaard dropped back to retrieve Van Aert.

Inside the final kilometre, Vingegaard marshalled Van Aert to the front and then continued to lead out the sprint. Van Aert did enough to see off the challenge of Lafay but he was unable to match the pace of Gaudu. 

Ruben Guerreiro (EF Education-EasyPost) took fourth ahead of Kevin Geniets (Groupama-FDJ) and Nick Schultz (BikeExchange-Jayco), while the overall contenders – including Roglič, Damiano Caruso, Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious) and Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) – all came home in the same time.

How it unfolded

The rolling 169km stage was animated by B&B Hotels-KTM, who placed no fewer than four riders on the offensive in a bid to upset the likely scenario of a reduced group sprint up the final climb.

Sebastian Schönberger began the team’s offensive shortly after the start in Saint-Paulien, when he attacked in the company of Omer Goldstein (Israel-Premier Tech), Jonas Wilsly (Uno-X) and Thomas Champion (Cofidis), and their onslaught continued with three of their number – Pierre Rolland, Alexis Gougeard and Miguel Heidemann – bridged across to the leaders after 40km.

By then, Goldstein had already dropped out of the break, whose lead reached a maximum of 4:30 before TotalEnergies set about policing affairs on behalf of the race leader Vuillermoz. The rolling terrain gradually began to take its toll on the men in the front. Come the top of the penultimate climb of the Côte de Besse-en-Chandesse, there were just three riders left in front, with Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X) joined by the B&B duo of Schönberger and Rolland.

Their advantage, meanwhile, had dropped inside two minutes, with Jumbo-Visma joining TotalEnergies in setting the tempo in the bunch in the final 50km or so. Their efforts meant that the surviving escapees were within touching distance as the road ramped up for the beginning of the final ascent.

Gregaard was the last man standing from the break and he launched a defiant acceleration with 4.5km to go before he was swamped by the chasers. Tsgabu Grmay (BikeExchange-Jayco) and Jan Hirt (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) both made accelerations inside the final 4km before Vingegaard took over with 3km remaining, with Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) perched on his wheel.

Vuillermoz was distanced with 2.4km to go as the front group was gradually reduced on the final ramps of the climb thanks to Vingegaard’s pace-making. Chris Froome (Israel-Premier Tech) lasted a little longer, but he would concede 31 seconds by the summit.

Roglič, O’Connor, Geoghegan Hart, Eddie Dunbar (Ineos Grenadiers), McNulty, Haig and Caruso were all well positioned in the final kilometre, but the terrain didn’t lend itself to an attack, and a group sprint of 30 or so riders ensued.

There will surely be greater separation among the favourites on Wednesday, when the Dauphiné continues with a 31.9km time trial to La Bâtie d’Urfé.

“I didn’t ride a long time trial for quite a while,” said Roglič. “It will be quite a challenge.”