Commentator loves the "sportsmanship between Pogacar and Vingegaard" after thrilling opening stage of Dauphiné

Those who thought that the relatively easy opening stage of Critérium du Dauphiné would be a sprinter's show must've been disappointed by the outcome. Everyone else witnessed a thirilling finale in Montlucon with all the main protagonists of the pre-Tour test already in action.

"The aliens are back! A big farmer's fair in the first stage of the Dauphiné," Sporza commentator Renaat Schotte said with excitement after Tadej Pogacar's victory.

His colleague José De Cauwer was also somewhat surprised by the fearless offensive launched by race favourites. "The GC men already take bonus seconds on the first day in a mass sprint, or at least in the photo. Beautiful, really beautiful! An open race, as people say about modern cycling."

In past, we would often see men like Jonas Vingegaard veto such attacks by sitting idly, but this time there were little tactics involved until the final meters. "That's when Pogacar started to think about winning a stage," De Cauwer saw. "That's why Van der Poel had to do most of the work and ultimately pay the price."

Ultimately, Pogacar did everything right. "He was also the one who dared to gamble the most. The great thing about the whole thing is that Vingegaard was the instigator. Then Pogacar and Van der Poel had to come and Evenepoel could not stay behind. That the four of them then crossed the finish line just ahead of the peloton: you can't make it up. If you dared to make it up, they would say you were exaggerating."

A slight point of concern was absence of UAE Team Emirates - XRG jerseys at the front when the situation tensed up - and Pogacar had to solve all attacks by himself. "I don't think this is the Tour team," De Cauwer is calm. "Tim Wellens also had a mechanical problem, but those men wouldn't have been with him at the top. It was a small breakaway by Vingegaard, at a difficult moment."

What impressed De Cauwer most was the sportsmanship between the two afterwards. "That's what I particularly enjoyed, the openness and sportsmanship between Pogacar and Vingegaard. A smile that I've rarely seen towards each other, looking openly into each other's eyes as we would do. Without any kind of jealousy or hostility. They simply said to each other after the finish that what they had done was good. I thought that was a very beautiful image."