Critérium du Dauphiné 2024: Pedersen takes first yellow jersey with opening victory

This year's edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné is considered to be mountainous, so the chances of the fast riders are correspondingly limited. One of two possible sprint finishes was offered at the start with the 173 kilometre long lap around the municipality of Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule. And the sprinter teams didn't miss this chance. After ideal sprint preparation by his team, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) finally secured the day's victory in commanding style. Rider Ryan Gibbons piloted his captain to one hundred metres before the finish line, and all the Dane had to do was finish.

Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) had no chance against Pedersen in the final sprint and had to settle for second place. Third place went to Hugo Page (Intermarché - Wanty), who took the lead in the young rider classification.

Pedersen is a France specialist this season

It was Pedersen's eighth win of the season, seven of which he took in France. "I like riding in France - from the small to the big races, it's always super organised here," said Pedersen. Among other things, he won the Tour de la Provence and the Etoile de Bessèges at the start of the season. On the sprint, he added: "That was a lead-out close to perfection."

Twelve kilometres before the finish, Nils Politt (UAE Team Emirates) attacked from the peloton and briefly caused a bit of unrest among the sprinters. But the German didn't get far with his attack, the gap was soon closed again.

Quiet start to the Critérium du Dauphiné for Roglic, Evenepoel and Co.

Pedersen's stage win gives him the first yellow jersey of the tour. Due to the time bonus at the finish, the Dane, for whom it was his first race after the spring classics, leads by four seconds ahead of Bennett and six seconds ahead of Page. However, Pedersen is likely to quickly relinquish the leader's jersey with the mountain finish on the upcoming stage. "Now that I'm in the lead, nobody will let me into the breakaway. The finale tomorrow is too difficult for me. We will control the race tomorrow out of respect for the yellow jersey, but we also have a GC rider to take care of. "

The favourites around Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step), Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) and Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek) will then be challenged on stage 2. In contrast, they had an uneventful day at the start and crossed the finish line at the same time.

Critérium du Dauphiné 2024: Results - the top 10 of stage 1

1. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) 4:01:30
2. Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +s.t.
3. Hugo Page (Intermarché - Wanty) +s.t.
4. Clement Venturini (Arkéa - B&B Hotels) +s.t.
5. Owain Doull (EF Education - EasyPost) +s.t.
6. Michele Gazzoli (Astana Qazaqstan Team) +s.t.
7. Ivan Garcia (Movistar) +s.t.
8. Fred Wright (Bahrain - Victorious) +s.t.
9. Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) +s.t.

How the 1st stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné 2024 went

Mark Donovan (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) broke away from the peloton at the start of the stage in Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule. Shortly afterwards, the Frenchman Mathis Le Berre (Arkéa - B&B Hotels) set off in pursuit, but only caught up with the Briton after more than 30 kilometres. The peloton was satisfied with the two escapees and allowed a maximum lead of 4:30 minutes.

Lidl-Trek and Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale organised the chase early on. Accordingly, victory on the day was hardly a realistic option for the two breakaways, but with three mountain classifications there was at least the first mountain jersey of the tour to conquer. Donovan secured the first two mountain classifications on the Côte de Jenzat (4th category) after 20 kilometres and on the Côte de Gannat (3rd category) after 30 kilometres as a soloist. Accompanied by Le Berre, he also secured the points on the Côte de Chouvigny (3rd category) after 47 kilometres.

However, the peloton kept the two escapees on a tight leash. Around 60 kilometres before the finish, the lead hovered at around two minutes. Donovan and Le Berre's escape came to an end with 17 kilometres to go.

Even though there were no longer any categorised climbs in the day's profile, the terrain remained slightly undulating. The finale was ridden over two laps of 30 kilometres, with a final uncategorised climb twelve kilometres before each finish. On the final climb, Politt took the initiative and attacked from the peloton, with Marco Haller (Bora-Hansgrohe) jumping on his rear wheel. But the group didn't get far - Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale led the peloton back to the front. A short offensive by Jonas Rutsch (EF Education - EasyPost) also fizzled out.

Afterwards, the sprinter teams and the teams of the classification riders fought a high-speed race for the best positions at the front of the field until the Flamme Rouge. In the end, Pedersen secured victory in the bunch sprint.