Just over three weeks before the start of the Tour de France, last year's winner Jonas Vingegaard put in an impressive dress rehearsal by taking overall victory in the tough Criterium du Dauphine.
The Danish professional cyclist took second place on the eighth and final stage over 152.8 kilometres from Le-Pont-de-Claix to Grenoble behind the Italian breakaway rider Giulio Ciccone.
Criterium du Dauphine: Biggest lead in 30 years
At the end of the tour, Vingegaard was 2:23 minutes ahead of Brit Adam Yates in the overall standings. This was the biggest lead in the Dauphine since Laurent Dufaux of Switzerland 30 years ago.
"I'm happy to have won the race. This is a big thing for me. It was surprising that the time gaps were so big, but I'm in good shape," said Vingegaard after his eleventh win of the season and added: "A few days to relax, then the final preparation for the Tour de France begins. I still have a bit of work to do, but not much."
The Dane certainly seems well prepared for the eagerly awaited duel with two-time Tour champion Tadej Pogacar from Slovenia. Vingegaard won the Tour of France for the first time last year, dethroning his great rival in the process.
Buchmann finishes in 19th place at the Criterium du Dauphine 2023
In March, Vingegaard was clearly beaten by Pogacar in the Tour of Paris-Nice. However, the Slovenian suffered a scaphoid fracture in his left hand in a crash during the spring classic Liège-Bastogne-Liège at the end of April and has not raced since. Pogacar will now only contest the Slovenian championship in preparation for the Tour of France starting on 1 July.
Former Tour fourth-placed Emanuel Buchmann, who was left behind on the penultimate climb, also played no role at the end of the Tour of the Dauphine. With 19th place in the overall standings, the German was unable to build on his best result from 2019 (third). It therefore remains questionable whether he will be nominated by his Bora-hansgrohe team for the season highlight. Australian Jai Hindley, who won the Giro in 2022, is set to captain the team. Hindley finished fourth overall at the Dauphine.
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