Did we learn anything that wasn’t already widely known about Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) following his crushing overall victory at the Critérium du Dauphiné? Whereas last year his unchallenged superiority was new, the gap between himself and arch-rival Jonas Vingegaard was previously much closer, and even this spring he continued to break new ground with his revelatory performance at Paris-Roubaix to finish second place. The way he won the Dauphiné followed what has now become a very familiar playbook.
The biggest surprise about the group of favourites that broke clear to deny the sprinters on the opening stage wasn’t the fact that the GC race was already igniting, but rather that it was the more conservative Vingegaard, rather than Pogačar, who instigated it. Once it went clear, Pogačar still had to overcome Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in the sprint finish, but did so convincingly. His underperformance in stage four’s individual time trial, where he went slower than Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), Vingegaard and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) was perhaps the biggest surprise in that he was, for once, defeated, and prompted speculation that perhaps he wasn’t the force he has been this past season-and-a-half. But such doubts were quickly and comprehensively put to rest in the following days, first when he used the punchy climbs of stage six to win the stage and take the yellow jersey, then the same on the longer climbs of stage seven. By the final stage, he was in energy preservation mode, yet still nearly won what would have been a third successive stage without seemingly trying, merely through dutifully covering moves.
So what did we learn from this week of racing? One thing that’s been confirmed is that Vingegaard remains Pogačar's biggest rival, and very much the second-best GC rider in the world. That much was clear by the remarkable fact that he placed second on five of the eight stages. Vingegaard had no answer to the world champion’s two decisive attacks on stage six’s Côte de Domancy and stage seven’s Valmeinier 1800, but he was still in flying form. If you take out Pogačar, Vingegaard would have won the overall at a canter, with 1:39 separating him and third place, compared to the 59 seconds between himself and the Slovenian in first. And though they were ultimately unable to land a glove on Pogačar, there were encouraging signs from his Visma-Lease a Bike team, with Jorgenson, Sepp Kuss and Ben Tullet all impressing. With Wout van Aert and Simon Yates to be added to the line-up for the Tour following their Giro d’Italia heroics, they’ll want to come up with a plan as to how they can unsettle Pogačar in July.
As for the third member of the ‘Big Three’, Remco Evenepoel, it was an inconclusive race. He got off to an exceptional start by taking the yellow jersey with a dominant win in the time trial, only to gradually fade as the race went on, falling to an eventual finish of fourth overall. Was that a lack of legs for the climbs, or the consequence of a heavy crash he suffered at the end of stage five? Or perhaps he is still building to top form after the lengthy injury setback that delayed his start to season? Or maybe the allergies he admitted to suffering from took their toll? We’ll have a better idea of whether he has closed the gap to himself and Pogačar, and Vingegaard come July.
Evenepoel missed out on a podium place, meaning the nominal ‘Big Three’ were broken up by an interloper — Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe). The German was the revelation of the race, beginning in aggressive fashion by sneaking into the day’s break on stage three to gain time over his GC rivals, and excelling in both the time trial and the mountains to hang on to third overall. This was a still more improved version of the 24-year-old who had already really impressed by placing second at Paris-Nice and fourth at Itzulia Basque Country, building upon a breakthrough 2024 in which he broke into the top 10 of the Vuelta a España. The question now is whether he has merited a co-leadership role for the Tour de France. Primož Roglič is set to be their main man for GC, but question marks hover over the Slovenian’s form and fitness, given that he has not raced since abandoning the Giro d’Italia. On the basis of his form this week, Lipowitz might be ready to take over the mantle for the podium push.
As for the other riders, Tobias Halland Johannessen was another of the race’s revelations, finishing with career-best climbing legs to move up to fifth overall, indicating that he will be Uno-X’s GC man for the Tour. The Spanish duo of Enric Mas (Movistar) and Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) were typically steady and unspectacular in sealing top 10 finishes on GC, suggesting they’re on course for similarly steady and unspectacular top 10 finishes at the Tour.
Much more prominent was Mathieu van der Poel, who was involved, be it from the breakaway or in the sprints, virtually every day, making the top 10 in all of the first five stages. He was the victim of Pogačar’s cannibalistic racing, losing the points jersey to him on the final stage (perhaps as revenge for his defeats at Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix in the spring), but the signs are that Van der Poel will be on the attack come the Tour. Stage wins for young talents Iván Romeo (Movistar) and Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious) suggest they’ll be candidates to do the same at the Tour, while another sprint win for Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) shows he remains on course to take the Tour de France bunch finishes by storm, notwithstanding his surprise defeat on stage five to Jake Stewart (Israel-Premier Tech).
Finally, 18-year-old Paul Seixas (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) must be mentioned after a series of performances almost unprecedented for a rider so young. He climbed among the peloton’s elite to finish eighth overall and was poised for an even higher finish before an unfortunate crash on the final stage saw him fall a couple of places. Not even Tadej Pogačar had pulled off that good a result at that young an age. The Slovenian might continue to dominate the peloton for now, but his superiority won’t last forever.
