Iván Romeo claimed the biggest win of his young career and Movistar's first at WorldTour level since January on stage 3 of the Critérium du Dauphiné, perfectly timing an attack 6km from the finish in Charantonnay to win solo after a furious breakaway battle.
Having started the day just 10 seconds off the overall race lead, Romeo, 21, also took over the overall race lead from Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek).
Romeo's late move came out of the remnants of the early breakaway on stage 3, with the likes of Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) unable to reel back in the Spanish rider after a rapid day of full gas racing that saw action from start to finish.
An uncooperative chase behind was led home 14 seconds after Romeo by Harold Tejada (XDS Astana) in second and Louis Barré (Intermarché-Wanty), who sparked the early break in the opening phase of a 207km stage, in third.
Romeo, the under-23 world champion in the time trial, will now be confident he can hold onto the yellow jersey, finishing with an eventual 1:08 advantage over Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and the world and Olympic ITT champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep).
Ivan Romeo's attack (Image credit: Getty Images)
"To be honest, I don't know at the moment, I don't believe it. I don't know what to say, honestly, I think it was one of the toughest days of my life so far," said Romeo.
"The breakaway, it was so hard to get into it, and I was not feeling really good. I had to tell the car I needed to take the risk and not be very active, so I waited to the last moment, and I know in this kind of flat final in a small break, I have good instinct and that if they give me some seconds, I can make it.
"The moment they didn't chase me for like one minute, I thought 'yes, I have to go flat out to the line'," he added, with his winning move being the second attack he made in the final 10km.
"I knew the final, I had this stage on my mind for one month, we have been doing altitude at Sierra Nevada, working super hard with all the team and they gave me this chance at the beginning of the week, so to be able to pull it off like this, I think I don't know what I just did.
"Hard work always pays off, and today it was the case.".
How it unfolded
Jonathan Milan (R) would lose the yellow jersey after a breakaway containing Mathieu van der Poel (L) escaped (Image credit: Getty Images)
The start of stage 3 at the Critérium du Dauphiné was all about one man – Romain Bardet (Picnic PostNL), with the race heading out from his hometown of Brioude, and large crowds of fans coming to see their local hero in his last race before retirement.
However, once the heartwarming tributes were completed, it was time to race for the 153-rider strong peloton, and it was full gas right out of neutral for the 207.2km road east to Charantonnay.
Several attacks were launched on Côte de Cornille (4.1 km at 4.8%) and Côte de la Barbate (5.8km at 6.8%), as the stage climbed immediately after the flag drop, with green jersey Van der Poel and Maxim Van Gils (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) among the highest profile early movers.
Bardet himself was involved in the furious fight for the break, but it was Louis Barré (Intermarché-Wanty) who got the jump and momentarily found separation. By this point, yellow jersey Milan was already 2:40 in arrears.
The big guns weren't staying out of it either, with Evenepoel trying something in the opening hour, but as the intermediate sprint in La Chaise-Dieu approached, he was beaten to the line by Pogačar and Barré, with the GC pair gaining 2 and 1 seconds respectively on Vingegaard.
Respite arrived after the rapid opening 35km of climbing, with the next portion of descending roads allowing a group of 13 to form in front: Axel Laurance, Michael Leonard (Ineos Grenadiers), Ivan Romeo (Movistar), Brieuc Rolland (Groupama-FDJ), Harold Tejada (XDS Astana), Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek), Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech), Eddie Dunbar (Jayco AlUla), Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies), Barré and Van der Poel.
Mathieu van der Poel at the head of the breakaway (Image credit: Getty Images)
With UAE settling in to control the gap, which was out to one minute with 160km to go, Milan also had the chance to try and get rejoin the peloton, after dropping away during the brutal, attacking start.
Milan made it back in by the foot of the next climb, Côte de Malataverne (5.4 km at 3.8%), but with the real GC threat of Lipowitz, Romeo and Dunbar being in the break, it saw UAE and Soudal cut the break's advantage down from 2:40 to 1:30 on the climb, causing the yellow jersey to again get left behind.
The Italian soon returned as the status quo resumed after the climb, with a long descent allowing him to get back in. UAE, Soudal and Visma did begin to chase, keeping the gap as close as 1:45 with 50km to go, but the approach to the Côte du Château saw the GC teams relent.
With the next climb's average gradients at 9.5%, and being a narrow road, the nerves in the peloton couldn't have been higher, causing the GC teams to naturally bring the gap down to the break, as they looked to maintain front position for their leader.
Those in the break hit the foot of the climb with 20km to ride and with a minute advantage, but behind, the pace was absolutely furious. Quickly, Leonard and Turgis were dropped as Bernard pressed on with an attack.
Soon, however, the French rider was joined on the climb by a flying Lipowitz, Tejada and Leknessund, with the former trying to maximise his GC gain, with the likes of Van der Poel pacing in the first chase group up the steep gradients.
A sharp tempo in front saw Milan drop early on the climb once again, losing a minute in quick time, but the GC favourites all sat comfortably together after Vingegaard recovered from a poor entry position and moved up to Pogačar's wheel.
Jonathan Milan gets dropped on the climb (Image credit: Getty Images)
Van der Poel bridged across to the four leaders with some stellar descending, joined by Barré, making it now six in the lead with a 1:17 advantage over the UAE-led peloton, with 12km left to race. The Classics superstar's presence saw the cooperation fail in front, though, and 10 of the original 13-man breakaway came back together.
What followed was a messy series of attacks from the breakaway, with the peloton too far behind to make the catch, as Van der Poel, Lipowitz, Tejada and Bernard all tried to break away in front and hit out for stage glory.
Instead, it was Romeo who found joy with a solo move, trying twice, with the second attempt sticking. Hesitation allowed his gap to grow, and attempts by Van der Poel and Lipowitz to bring him back were futile without full cooperation.
The Spanish rider time trialled alone and survived all the way to the line, 14 seconds ahead of a three-man chase group, and 27 seconds in front of the Van der Poel-led group, who sprinted it out for fifth place.
Pogačar and the rest of the GC favourites rolled across the line after a brutal day on the bike in the heat and with an average speed of 45kph, 1:08 down.
James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.
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