This year’s edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné got underway with a 172.5km-long flat stage around Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule, with Mads Pedersen emerging victorious in the final sprint. The Danish rider was given a textbook leadout by his Lidl-Trek teammates, who delivered him perfectly into the final bend with around 200m to go and nobody was able to come around him once he opened his sprint.
Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) was the closest to Pedersen, as the Irishman finished in second place, but was unable to come out of the slipstream to launch his sprint, as he was forced to sit back down in the saddle before the finish line.
