Vingegaard finishes second in final stage and overall standings of Critérium du Dauphiné
Jonas Vingegaard has secured second place overall in the Critérium du Dauphiné. In the final stage of the eight-day race, the Team Visma | Lease a Bike leader launched an attack but was unable to gain time on overall winner Tadej Pogačar. The day's victory went to Lenny Martinez.
In the early part of the final stage of the French multi-day race, Sepp Kuss joined the day’s breakaway on behalf of the black-and-yellow formation. The twelve-man group, including the American, built a solid lead over the peloton. However, that advantage dwindled as the final climb toward Plateau du Mont-Cenis approached. On the ascent, Vingegaard accelerated from a reduced peloton, with only Tadej Pogačar able to follow his pace.
With help from Kuss, the duo reeled in most of the breakaway riders. Only Lenny Martinez managed to stay clear and soloed to the stage victory. Vingegaard crossed the finish line in second place, just ahead of Pogačar - who won the overall victory in the Critérium du Dauphiné. Matteo Jorgenson, runner-up last year, delivered another solid performance to take sixth in the final general classification.
Sports director Grischa Niermann is satisfied with his team’s efforts: “I saw a strong Team Visma | Lease a Bike this week. Jonas was consistently the best behind Pogačar and finishes second overall. Matteo also did well, ending up sixth. On top of that, we win the team classification. Unfortunately, that’s as much as we could achieve.”
"I saw a strong Team Visma | Lease a Bike this week"
“Of course, we would have liked to win the Dauphiné”, Niermann says. “But I’m happy with where we stand as a team at this moment. There’s still some work to be done, but we had anticipated that.” Vingegaard adds: “I have three more weeks to improve ahead of the Tour de France. Then we’ll see where we stand. We're fully focused on ourselves. I’m really looking forward to the Grand Départ in Lille.”