Jonas Vingegaard won the fifth stage of the Criterium du Dauphine and pulled on the leader’s yellow jersey to take control before the race heads into the Alpine finale.
Vingegaard finished over half a minute ahead of a pursuing group having made the break with 15km to go on the tough Thesy climb over 3.6km with an 8.8 percent gradient, after the 191.5km ride from Cormoranche-sur-Saone.
Vingegaard claimed his ninth win of the season to lay the groundwork for his Tour de France title defence from July 1-23.
With three stages still to go, including the last two in the high mountains, he cemented his status as a huge favourite by winning 31 seconds ahead of a group including some of the main favourites, except David Gaudu.
“I didn’t want to attack today, just defend my position. But Richard (Carapaz) left so I followed him,” said Vingegaard.
He is now 1 min 23 sec ahead of Julian Alaphilippe, second on the stage and overall.
“He was unplayable, a notch above on the climb, he was impossible to follow,” said Alaphilippe.
For Vingegaard all the lights are green for his Tour defence in July against Tadej Pogacar, who is currently training in the Sierra Nevada after his left wrist fracture at the end of April.
“We already saw during yesterday’s time trial that he was in good shape,” teammate Christophe Laporte said. “It’s definitely a good sign.”
The peloton will begin to attack the mountains on Friday with an arrival in the small ski resort of Crest-Voland, at 1,218 meters above sea level, after three ascents in the final 20km, including the Col des Aravis.
