Impey strikes, Kwiatkowski stays in the lead
June 4 th 2018 - 16:39
South African national champion Daryl Impey of Mitchelton-Scott claimed stage 1 in the 70th Critérium du Dauphiné as he outsprinted Julian Alaphilippe from Quick Step. The first African to wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France back in 2013 moved up on GC only two seconds down on prologue winner Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky).
151 riders took the start of stage 1 at 11.58. Two non-starters: Chris Hamilton and Laurens ten Dam (Team Sunweb). After 5km of racing, Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Brice Feillu (Fortuneo-Samsic) and Lawson Craddock (EF Education Fist) rode away. Their advantage reached six minutes after 50km of racing. Feillu crested the first three categorized climbs in first position. The Frenchman therefore mathematically secured the lead in the King of the Mountains competition. Vital Concept and Quick Step took over from Team Sky at the head of the peloton to reduce their deficit to three minutes in the feed zone (km 77.5). Johan Le Bon and James Knox were the most active chasers, for the French and the Belgian team respectively. They brought the gap down to 1’20’’ before the last hour of racing.
Edet, Feillu and Craddock caught with 11km to go
Edet, Feillu and Craddock passed the finishing line for the first time with a remaining advantage of 45 seconds over the peloton still led by Vital Concept and Quick Step. Quentin Pacher and Laurens De Plus took over from their respective team-mates. Lotto-Soudal closed the gap on the two riders left at the front: Edet and Craddock. It was all together again with 11km to go as the Frenchman and the American surrendered after 163km of a courageous breakaway.
Shark attack but the winner comes out of Africa
Dylan Teuns (BMC) attacked in the last climb while David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) was one of the riders affected by the late crashes. Julian Alaphilippe (Quick Step) countered. Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) was the last star to try his luck with one kilometre to go. Some of the sprinters, namely Bryan Coquard (Vital Concept) and Phil Bauhaus (Sunweb) were out of contention due to the toughness of the finale. Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) seized the opportunity to sprint from far out. Alaphilippe had to settle for second place wheareas Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) rounded out the podium. Michal Kwiatkowski (Quick Step) crossed the line in fifth position and retained the overall lead but Impey moved up on GC throughout the time bonus, in second place only two seconds adrift.