Frenchman Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) won the first stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné in the sprint on Sunday at Chambon-sur-Lac. The 30-year-old from Var won as the peloton of favorites took over the Belgian Rune Herregodts (Intermarché), who had escaped since the start of the day, only ten meters from the finish line. It is the 29th victory of his career for Laporte, who wears the first yellow jersey of this 75th edition of the Dauphiné.
“It was really borderline”: Frenchman Christophe Laporte donned the first yellow jersey of the Critérium du Dauphiné on Sunday at Chambon-sur-Lac by catching the last breakaway of the day only ten meters from the finish.
Run in the showers, the first stage of this 75th edition pushed the eternal and cruel game of cat and mouse between the breakaway and the peloton to its climax. Last survivor of the day’s escapade, the Belgian Rune Herregodts offered heroic resistance to the bulk of the troops in the last kilometers on the wet roads of Puy-de-Dôme.
At the red flame, the Intermarché runner had even regained a fifteen-second lead by taking all the risks in the descent. But when we thought he had done the hardest part, the Belgian, who perhaps turned around too often to see where the pack was, was caught, then passed, just a few meters from the goal.
And it was Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma), the best French rider since the start of the year, who emerged at the head of the peloton to win in the sprint ahead of the Italian Matteo Trentin (UAE) and.. Herregodts, magnificent but inconsolable third. “It was really limited, with the rain, on the descent, it took a little time, while we were going quickly behind. We had it in our sights but you never really know. The whole team went all out to play for the win. Even Jonas made the lead out up to 300m from the line,” commented Laporte about his leader, the Dane Jonas Vingegaard, big favorite for the general classification.
For Herregodts, the outcome was heartbreaking. But for Laporte, this third victory of the year, in just nine days of racing, confirms a very convincing start to the season, marked by his successes in the Ghent-Wevelgem and A Travers la Flandre classics.
It also shows that the 30-year-old from Var is in good shape less than a month before the start of the Tour de France (July 1 to 23), where he will again support Vingegaard and where he had been the only Frenchman to win a stage l last year. “On paper it was a stage for me today (Sunday), with good bumps but not too steep. I knew that if I felt good, I had a good chance,” commented Laporte, who has now won the three biggest stage races in France, the Tour de France, Paris-Nice and the Critérium du Dauphiné.
As a reward, he donned the first yellow jersey of the 2023 edition which he will defend on Monday during a again very hilly stage between Brassac-les-Mines and La Chaise-Dieu, in Haute-Loire. “It’s always an honor to wear this beautiful yellow jersey, I will try to honor it,” he said.
The favorites spent a rather uncomfortable day on roads made slippery by the many sometimes brutal showers that fell on the riders. In the end, however, they managed to avoid the pitfalls to arrive grouped in the first peloton, apart from the Spaniards Enric Mas and Mikel Landa who lost 15 and 22 seconds respectively.