Three weeks before the Tour de France: Tadej Pogacar underpins his supremacy

Tadej Pogacar (Emirates) drove in the yellow jersey on Sunday with great lightness to his first triumph of the Dauphiné tour. The Dane Jonas Vingegaard (Visma) only made a tentative attempt to challenge the Slovenes again on the final stage of the 77th edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné.

Pogacar was able to follow his attack shortly before the last mountain ranking on the Col du Mont-Cenis (1st category). At the end of the Frenchman Lenny Martinez (Bahrain), the last day of the day on the 133.3 kilometers from Val-d’Arc to Val-Cenis. Vingegaard (on 34  ») and Pogacar (34  ») took the ranks two and three.

The 26 -year -old Slovenian prevailed overall with a lead of almost a minute in front of his Danish adversary Vingegaard and thus mastered the dress rehearsal for the Tour de France, which begins on July 5 in Lille. Third place in the overall ranking was the German professional Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull), who also ended the royal stage of the race in third place behind Pogacar and Vingegaard on Saturday.

Lipowitz from the wobbly candidate to the podium candidate candidate

The 24-year-old Lipowitz was so strong in the dress rehearsal that within a few days he developed from a wobbly candidate in his own team to a serious contender on a tour platform in the overall classification.

« When I came here, I would never have expected that I could drive so far in front, » said Lipowitz from the Team Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe. The racing team around Primoz Roglic now has a second high -quality option on the overall classification for the largest bike race in the world (5th to 27th July). Lipowitz was not only third behind Pogacar and Vingegaard, but also won the jersey of the best young professional. The mountain jersey won the Frenchman Bruno Armirail (AG2R).

Pogacar, meanwhile, triumphed his supremacy in cycling three weeks before the Tour de France. The Slovenian won three of the eight stages of the 77th edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné and spoke « of a breathtaking week ».

Rested pogacar

When he answered the questions in the target area, he almost looked rested again. The star from Slovenia is only the third cyclist after the Frenchman Louison Bobet (1955) and Bernard Hinault (1981), who also won the Dauphiné as the world champion. « I am very happy and proud, » said Pogacar.

Before the tour of France, however, Pogacar does not want to leave anything to chance « Now we are going to the height training camp and then for three days, » announced the overall winner. After that, there may be some time trial training on the program before the start of the Tour de France.

Michel Ries (Arkéa) finished at the final of the Critérium du Dauphiné as 92nd with a deficit of 23’55  » on day winner Martinez. The Luxemburger ends the overall ranking in 49th place (on 58,45  »). After a strong performance on the royal stage on Saturday, Ries had even moved up to 37th place in the overall ranking.