Jumbo-Visma controlled the final kilometres with Primoz Roglic leading the way for Van Aert who attacked in the last kilometre and managed to cross the finish line ahead of Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott).
Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) was right on Impey’s wheel, but could not get around the fast-charging South African in the closing meters.
“Apparently I have good legs,” said Van Aert. “I came really tired to the hotel yesterday, after a few days off. The team still wanted to do a perfect job for me today because we saw some chances in the stage. When you have riders like Tony Martin and all these strong leaders that pulled for me in the end, I had so much motivation to go all-out in the sprint.
Chris Froome was dropped with a few kilometres to go, coming in 5’23” behind the leaders eventually. Geraint Thomas came in safely as part of the group behind the winner.
Victoire en costaud de ??@WoutvanAert !
⏪ Revivez le dernier kilomètre de l'étape 1 du #Dauphiné.??@WoutvanAert was the strongest man !
⏪ Relive the last kilometer. pic.twitter.com/pVFyn1NO2U— Critérium du Dauphiné (@dauphine) August 12, 2020
Criterium du Dauphine 2020 – stage 1 results (Clermont-Ferrand – Saint-Christo-en-Jarez):
| 1 | Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) | 5:27:42 |
| 2 | Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 3 | Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) | ,, |
| 4 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | ,, |
| 5 | Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 6 | Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) | ,, |
| 7 | Sergio Higuita (EF Pro Cycling) | ,, |
| 8 | Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R la Mondiale) | ,, |
| 9 | Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) | ,, |
| 10 | Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) | ,, |
